Upper Hyalite Canyon

Toured to Upper Hyalite Canyon to Divide Peak and we were pleasantly surprised. The layer of weak facets buried almost 2' deep up there has gained some hardness (4 fingers hardness instead of Fist hardness). It produced more promising test scores than we've been seeing in other places.

• ECTN at 9000', NE facing
• ECTP30 at 9560' E facing
• ECTP27 and ECTP23 at 9600' SE facing

We did not experience any cracking or collapsing. There had been strong winds three days ago, but it didn't seem like winds have moved much snow since then and there was lots of great powder skiing.

This is just one observation but it is perhaps a hint that this layer could heal in the reasonable future. Continuing to bury this layer with light snowfall would do it. 

For now, we're cautiously optimistic that we found one place with decent-ish looking snow. Hyalite and the entire Northern Gallatin Range is a large place with a lot of variability and likely many places with plenty of weak snow that warrants digging and assessing the weak layer.