Soggy and deep in the Northern Whitefish

After 1.5” of SWE at Stahl Peak SNOTEL in the past 36 hours, we were nervous about persistent slabs becoming reactive, so we went to look for avalanche activity in suspect terrain.

• Good views of over a dozen complex paths with variable start zones and saw no signs of large avalanches. We spotted 2 small wet loose avalanches that ran out of steep gullies at mid elevations, along with lots of rollerballs and pinwheels from yesterday and today. We kept an eye overhead hazards below gullies. 

• Freezing level was around 5500’. Above that, we found about 12” of dense new snow that produced non-propagating failures in tests and no signs of instability. Deeper layers appeared to be strong and unreactive in one pit.