10-11

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Snowfall amounts are inconsistent because the freezing level is near 5,500', much higher than normal.  Lower elevation measuring stations are showing a lot of moisture, but not much snow while higher sites are getting deeper snows.  For example, both Hyalite Canyon and Carrot Basin SNOTEL sites got 10 inches of snow.  But the Hyalite station at 8,000' received 1.5 inches of snow water (SWE) while Carrot at 9,000' only got half that water amount.  Higher elevations have colder air which translates into more snow for a given amount

From an email sent to us: "Went poking around up on Sacajawea this morning, skied one of the north facing shots off the main summit in every condition from ice to powder. New snow was bonding decently except for in heavily wind loaded areas. On a 40 degree N/NE wind loaded slope, my partner triggered a ~40 foot wide slab, up to two feet in depth. The slab propagated into an adjacent wind loaded pocket, and once it got going, triggered all the fresh snow below it, culminating in a gigantic powder cloud blasting out the scree cone at the base of the gully.

This steep slope commonly avalanches since it gets cross loaded by the winds.  Check out this photo from Oct 30, 2009: http://www.mtavalanche.com/images/09/couloir-sacajawea-peak  Photo: Anon

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This snowpack was laid down exactly how we like it.  Heavy, dense snow on the bottom, medium density in the middle, and light density on the top.  We did not get any shears while doing stability test nor did we experience any cracking or collapsing while skinning or skiing.  We did not have the pleasure of receiving this type of layering once last year so it was a welcomed site.  Lets hope it stays that way.

Over the past two weeks warm, clear weather has helped settle and stabilize the snow that fell in late October.  The snow that still exists from the October storms now offers a variety of snow surfaces for this new snow to fall on.  Aspects that have been exposed to the sun will likely have a stiff crust making a nice firm surface for this new snow to slide.  Dry snow on the highest, north facing slopes has potentially been capped by a thin layer of surface hoar.

Our snowfall data is from the NRCS SNOTEL sites scattered throughout southwest Montana.  Higher elevations have deeper snows as well as drifts forming in the gullies and couloirs of the higher peaks.  I'm estimating that most mountain ranges have 12-24 inches of snow at 9,000 feet.  Barring a freak melt, this snow will form the foundation of our winter snowpack.  We like getting dense, wetter snow this early in the season since it protects our skis as well as our bones from the ground. It can also inhibit the development