Northern Gallatin

At the saddle between the front and backside of Lick Creek we found 110cm of snow with very dense windslabs. These were firm and cohesive, with the firmest being between 100 and 90cm. Our layer of most concern was at 65cm but was difficult to impact and we felt confident our weight alone even in shallow areas would not impact this layer, we skied the front side however due to time constraints. 

Experienced no signs of snow instabilities.  Ellis has apparently seen limited amount of wind as only scattered signs of drifting were noted.  SW Montana faceted snow exist at the ground with the snow above in a right side up configuration.  The skiing was excellent, some of the steeper lines were skied and only minor surface sluffes were initiated.

From obs on Mt Blackmore 12/2: " we were able to easily trigger shallow, short running windslabs by knocking down small cornices." Photo: C. Kussmaul

Today our party of three skied Blackmore peak, knowing beforehand the new snow and wind would keep us off the standard East Ridge to the summit, but still wanted to ski a lap on the lower section of that same ridge. Beforehand we were able to easily trigger shallow, short running windslabs by knocking down small cornices. We then headed up to the summit from the largely low angled SE sub-ridge and skied wind scour back to the trail. This lower angle terrain whumped on us a few times, whenever we stepped out of the trees, a hasty hand pit showed a thin sun crust under the new snow interface to be the culprit. Thought the attached picture may help some folks decided on weekend plans. Thanks!

Pretty solid conditions yesterday. Some drifting occurring at the top but better then expected. Pit showed a right side up pack with the usual small layer of facets at ground level. ICT 25, slight but stable wind packed layer on top 2 in. Decent felt really good and conditions felt comfortable enough to ski any aspect on Ellis.

Good skiing on the backside of Lick today.

Dug a test pit on the backside out of curiosity and found 95cm of snow and a ECTN16 score @ 31cm down.

Dense slab that fractured on top of a 1F crust.

Toured up to the NE shoulder on Mt. Blackmore yesterday. Winds were strong and variable, but mostly gusting from the S-SW. A lot of snow was moving around, skin tracks were filled in very quickly, and you could actively see small cornices starting to build on the lee side of the ridge. Photo: H. Darby