Observation Date: 03/24/2021

Route/Location:
Central. This report covers conditions and pits from Sunday to Wednesday.

Weather:
Whiteout to sunburn weather, everything in between.

Wind:
Light

New Snow: 12+”

Avalanche Activity:
Spent a few days skiing the Crest of the Bitterroot between 5500 and 7600. Sunday we dug an ECT on a north face at 7500 and had ECTN14 25 cm down on top of the crust from the sunny stretch. The remainder of the 4 foot deep pit was well bonded. Monday dug similar pit on east face same elevation and had ECTN15 on the same layer.
The new snow was not bonded to the crust and anything over 35 sloughed taking all the snow with it. By Tuesday the new snow had stiffened into a slab and propagated above treeline on one of our runs.
We stayed off large steep slopes, gullies, and terrain traps. Solar aspects skied well until Tuesday when sun got to ENE through W slopes. Northern aspects had powder.
New snow total was about 10 inches over three days with 8 to 10 inches on the crust prior to our arrival. Snow was picking up in intensity again Wednesday afternoon.

Other Comments:

Observer: Ian M