Skis Like Broken Glass

The Swan range may get a significant amount of new snow this week, so we went to see the first round as it blew in.

• A dusting of new snow had fallen overnight, and new snow began around 10am. Moderate westerly winds were drifting it onto leeward slopes above about 5800 feet.
• A rain crust that was also reported in the Whitefish Range yesterday was the biggest part of our day. We found it on all aspects and elevations. It's an ice lense around 1/4 inch thick.
• The crust was supporting the 2 to 4 inches of new snow and was acting as a slick bed surface for the small wind slab and loose dry avalanches we intentionally triggered on upper elevation slopes. It was not supporting our weight and we easily broke through to the weak sugar snow below the crust. This caused shooting cracks and large chunks of crust to break out around us, as if the crust were a touchy slab. I worry that as larger avalanches become more likely later in the week, they may break through the crust and step down to the buried weak layer causing larger and wider slides.
• The new snow was just starting to settle into a thin storm slab in some sheltered areas before we left and would break into pieces atop the crust.

We tested small, steep slopes away from terrain traps and frequently broke through the crust. The skiing was delicate and not very good.

See video at https://youtu.be/4MNelW3YosU