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Jack C. Mauer has more than a thirty year investment in fishing, floating and wading the waters of western Montana. He is intimately acquainted with the surrounding fisheries and their corresponding ecologies. It is his passion and enthusiasm for the art of fly fishing, a respect and knowledge of trout habitat, and the ability to expertly instruct the technical aspects of fly fishing that clients appreciate as they return to western Montana and Wapiti Waters. Contact Jack at 800-254-5311.

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Bitterroot Snowpack and Avalanche Advisory Site

I revisited a great site today. We have had new snow, now it is warming up. I wondered what information I could find about our Bitterroot snowpack. As I have said before, for fly fishing, snowpack is a huge indicator of what to expect in our upcoming season. We also want to recreate and be safe. See below and click on the hotlinks for more information.

Happy Holidays! This is Steve Karkanen at the West Central Montana Avalanche Center with the avalanche advisory for December 29th, 2008.

Please read the above link if you plan on skiing in western Montana. Danger is HIGH.

Remember the adage, be careful what you ask for? Well, we're getting what we've been asking for. The problem is that it's coming in a way that our current basal snowpack layers cannot support....

....The good news is that the new snow has been coming in gradually with a slow warm up. The weak layer near the rain crust is gaining strength over time and is adjusting quite well to each storm that slowly adds weight to it. The bad news is the cold temperatures we've experienced the past 2 weeks has allowed the weak granular sugary snow around the crust to persist so when we receive a storm that drops a lot of weight (several inches of snow or any amount of rain) it won't be able to adjust fast enough to be safe. The really bad news is that the forecast is calling for a warm up with significant snowfall and wind perhaps even rain at some mountain locations this weekend.

To learn more, visit http://www.missoulaavalanche.org/events/ for classes and films showing in the Missoula area. BE SAFE!!!



Jack and I have been cross country skiing almost every day. Here is a slideshow from yesterday.


If you are going out for a back country ski, tell people where you are going and when you expect to be back. Visit this link for Weather Forecast and Avalanche Outlook in the Missoula and Bitterroot area.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownDecember 29, 2008 at 9:25 AM

    Merle and Jack,

    Many thanks! Anything to help us get the word out about avalanche conditions and avy safety is very much appreciated. It is particularly important now as conditions are unsafe and I expect them to remain sketchy for some time. We have not seen these kind of early season weak layers in many years and it appears to be widespread.

    Let us know what you see out there. Any info helps as we are spread thin and concentrate on the areas visited the most.

    Thanks again and have a safe New Year!

    Steve Karkanen
    Director
    West Central Montana Avalanche Center
    skarkanen@fs.fed.us
    info@missoulaavalanche.org
    406-329-3752

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