Wind affected Swan Range

Toured into the Swan Range to look at the snow surface prior to this weekends storm.

• Last weekends blizzard affected most slopes and aspects at upper elevations. East aspects were scoured with a windboard layer that was 2-6" thick and 1F hard.  This layer varied between supportable and unsupportable making for exciting skiing. At upper elevations, the surface snow was completely stripped away revealing the 2/8 rain crust which was 1/2" thick. West aspects had a 6-12" 1F wind slab that thinned as you decreased elevation. Most sheltered locations were wind affected with a few heavily treed areas maintaining powder conditions.
• Visibility was poor but we did notice one storm slab avalanche at 6000' on a north aspect in the forest. This slab was 18' thick and 30' wide with the bed surface being the 2/8 rain crust.
• Recreationalists whom we spoke with reported a "small" storm slab avalanche mid-slope on Crown Bowl with a west aspect. They also noted a possible glide crack on the same face of Crown Bowl. Both observations were from Friday during bluebird conditions.
• Despite limited snow for transport fresh cornice formation was occurring from southwest winds. 
• 1-2" of low density (5%) snow fell during our tour.
• No signs of instability noted except for small fresh cornices that we were able to easily break.