Mount Brown GNP

Toured up to Mount Brown in GNP:

• I have observed a general trend of strengthening in the upper snowpack the past several days due to mild daytime temps and refreeze at night.  Skiing South facing in the Whitefish Range on prior days (5000'-6900')
• I have also noticed the deterioration of the snow surfaces at mid and lower elevations on steep slopes due to mid/late afternoon warming on solar aspects.
• Traveled to Mount Brown to observe the effect of sunshine and mild temperatures at higher elevations. (7000-8500)

• Stout semi-supportable crust up 6000' on SW aspect
• Stratus deck up to ~6400' at 630AM. Lowering to ~5500 by mid day. Very lightly snowing within the cloud in the early morning.
• Thin breakable crust above 6000' on SW aspect. Near surface faceting occuring directly beneath this crust, creating a planar weak layer for future slabs to fail on.
• Surface hoar development most prevalent in sheltered terrain within the first 300' above stratus deck.
• Very light wind all day, 0-10 mph.

• Climbed and skiied from summit of Mount Brown 8566'
• Found generally good stability on SE and S aspects.
• We were concerned about hazards and snowpack deterioration associated with afternoon warming, so we started early today and planned to be off and away from solar aspects by the afternoon. We began our descent between 1130am and 1200pm.
• Between 7200' and 8500' The snowpack on South side of the compass was supportable to skis, but easily broken and penetrated by boots. 
• We observed good stability during our descent aside from one small wet point release (skier triggered D1) that ran approximately 100' from 8000' on South facing.
• At 6200' we found ourselves skiing on an old firm bed surface of wet loose avalanche actvity from previous days. This debris/bed surface was in a Southeast facing gully, 30-40 degrees.
• We observed numerous steep south facing gullys with similar loose wet activity from prior days as we exited the Snyder Basin. We did not observe any new wet loose actvity from today as of 1:00pm when we exited the upper Snyder drainage.