Observation Date: 01/17/2015

Route/Location:
Storm Lake Basin

Weather:
Sunny, Very windy at elevation, Lots of snow transport

Wind:
Very gusty wind, from all directions. Any loose snow was being transported at elevation. Ran into a lot of hollow wind slabs.

New Snow: 0-3″

Avalanche Activity:
No visible avalanche activity this day.

Other Comments:
Not in forecast area, however somewhat close to Missoula for backcountry recreation. We toured from the lake up to investigate the north facing chutes on Little Rainbow Mt. and the east facing face of Mt. Tiny. Very thin snowpack. Started to investigate chutes on Rainbow. After a few steps and two quick hand-pits we retreated quickly. Hand pits revealed 10″-12″ of facets on-top of the ground with very dense windslab on top. Decided to investigate east face of Mt. Tiny to see if change in aspect would improve snowpack. Dug a pit on east facing slope aprox. 8800 feet. total snowpack depth was 3-feet with 10 inches of facets on the ground. Full snowpack broke on the facets at ECTP-22 with decent energy to the ground. We retreated for the day however the facets were pretty much on every aspect. Just wanted to post because the snowpack was pretty scary and will most likely be this way for a while.

Observer: Dave Glueckert