Northern Gallatin

Tons of wind transport all over Hyalite. Gullies were spindrift torrents most of the day. Ridge lines had plumes for most of the day too. Small wind slabs building in the upper Mummy gully, approximately 6"-8" thick at most and 1F to P hardness. Some localized cracking around our boots but nothing more.

Two obvious layers. sun crust layer with a foot of wind blown on top. top layer failed while isolating column for pit test. photos are from a video that i cannot attach. it just shows the two layers. i tried to preform the test to the left but it failed prior to any taps. 

Toured up to Blackmore NE Ridge, about 200 feet from the summit Tuesday. Mix of sun and clouds. very cold, light to no winds. fresh blown snow was over 1' deep up high and felt very stable. We did not notice any wind slabs though it had been windy overnight, the N.W face of elephant was completely scoured almost down to rock. Some small cornices forming on the ridge with the slightest wind skin in some places. snowpack was around 3' deep on the lee (E) side.

I skied all three meadows at History Rock this morning. The recent storms have done good things, and there is no longer a mix of snow and dirt, but around 3-9 inches of new snow in Hyalite. Winds were surprisingly light, mostly of of the south, and snowfall fluctuated between light and moderate, with a total of 2-3 inches of new snow on my car after several hours of skiing (it was good). The new snow didn't seem to be bonding great to the underlying crust, but I saw no bullseye signs of instability.

Encountered a 6-8" old, unreactive windslab in Comet Alley yesterday. NE Aspect, ~8300'. Couldn't find a weak layer beneath it. Overall, the snowpack felt fairly homogenous on this aspect in this area.

We skinned around hyalite basin today following the snowfall from last night. In the Basin, we found new snow varying from 8-12 inches. As visibility pushed us away from Hyalite peak, we skinned east towards overlook and dug a pit on a W/SW slope at 9100 feet. We found roughly 80cm snow with a small crust layer at 50cm as well as facets forming on the ground. While we had no propagation in our ECT, the facets forming will be something to watch over the next week with cold temps. No natural avy activity observed with the minimal visibility in the area other than some new snow sluffs on steeper terrain below ridge lines. 

My partner and I climbed Twin Falls in Hyalite (it's fat). Snowfall ended mid-morning and I estimated 4-5" of new at the base of the climb (~7,500'). The wind was not blowing and there was 12-18" on the ground. The new snow bonded well to the old snow and I did not see any facets or depth hoar forming in the old snow.

There were lots of skiers heading up the Grotto Falls trail and Mt. Blackmore, so hopefully you'll get more info from them.

A 12" deep snowpack at History Rock. 11/14/24. Photo: GNFAC