Stryker-ed Out

We snowmobiled into the northern Whitefish Range, above Stryker, to see check conditions prior to the cold front forecast for later today. 

• No new snow by late afternoon, only a very brief rain shower. Our nice northern friends have apparently built a wall to keep the precip to themselves.
• Winds picked up early afternoon, but with little loose snow on the surface of windward slopes, no new drifts formed. 
• The snow surface below about 5200’ consists of coarse melt-freeze grains that have refrozen into a 1-5 cm thick crust. Today’s air temperatures were warm enough to soften but not destroy this crust. The snow below this crust is moist or wet. Meltwater seems limited. 
• Above 5200, near-surface snow conditions are more varied. On sunny aspects up to about 7000 feet, mostly 1-3 cm thick melt freeze crusts. Some were soft enough to feel kinda corn-ish or grabby. Some were still frozen, hard and supportable. Above about 6000 feet, North through East aspects had soft, mostly dry snow that was reminiscent of powder.
• A 2-4” layer of hard wind board sits on the surface of exposed, upper elevation NE-facing slopes. 
• In a snow profile at 6600 feet on the southeast facing slope, we found crusts dating back to mid January in the top 1.25 m of the snow pack. Small and large column tests produced no propagation or sudden failures on or near these layers. 
• We saw a half dozen small wet loose avalanches from recent days, but nothing from today. Details to follow. Images to follow.