The icebox and the oven

We enjoyed a day off tour above the valley clouds in the Flathead Range.

• A dozen D1.5 wet loose slides were observed on steep open southerly slopes at mid-elevations. These probably ran during the initial warmup on December 2nd.
• Older wet debris from 5 or 6 D1.5 sized slides was observed on north-facing terrain at mid-elevations.
• The valley floor felt frigid due to a cool air temperature, nearly 100% humidity, and clouds. Conditions warmed dramatically several hundred feet above the cloud bank.
• We limited our travels to north-facing open terrain with surface conditions that varied from powder to hard wind slab to boilerplate. 
• Surface hoar growth was impressive at the low-elevations. Mid-elevations held a mixture of surface hoar and near-surface facets.