We decided to take a chance on the east side snowpack after the storm. We noticed that the Pike Creek weather station received 7 inches of snow after the winds died down, so went to sub-shields with a safe option in case wind slabs were unmagageable. Amazingly the surface snow was deep, powdery and relatively unaffected by wind even at 6,600' on the east ridge. Breaking trail was deep all the way to the top. There were the occasional old buried wind-drifts on the ridge-proper that felt stiff under the skins. We dug a SE facing pit at 6,500' far enough away from the main ridge but staying in 28 degree slopes. We wanted to see if a wind slab was present, especially with the old avalanche on Elk Mountain opposite the valley. Total snow depth was 130cm. The rain crust of the Whitefish Range was not present. The top 100-110cm was textbook 'right-side-up' snowpack ranging from very low-density snow down to 1F hardness just above the facet layer from the early-December high pressure system. Faceted grains had 4F hardness and were not very well bonded. We got a CT failure at 13 taps 20cm down (in storm slab). Our extended column test did not have any results, even partial propagation. We enjoyed lap skiing the SE face and stayed a safe distance away from the crossloaded S ridge. Wind slabs were present but hard to find under recent low-density snow. Winds are on the rise again so the low density surface snow is going to be on the move.
