Northern Gallatin

Strong wind in the previous 2 days sculpted the snow surface into waves of sastrugi. Photo: GNFAC

Wind in the last 2 days gusted 45-70 mph and stripped some starting zones down to dirt in Beehive Basin. Photo: GNFAC

Beautiful day on Ellis with the classic Ellis snow pack, i.e., shallow, depth hoar, no supporting base.  Snow pit at top of the burn, 85 cm depth.  Depth hoar at ground up to 10-15 cm, smaller grain size above.  ECTX.  The column under the shovel blade failed completely at 25 hits in compression, no shear plane.  We experienced no signs of snow instability.  Skied one run down the burn being light on skis, then skied out via our super secret exit route in the trees where the skiing was not any better until lower on the mountain.  Moonshine trail was super fast with the added obstacle of people HIKING up (another attribute of the New Bozeman). 

Question for Ian.  For your recent post from Ellis did you ascend/descend via saddle between Big and Little Ellis?  Just curious.

Went for a tour up Blackmore, dug a pit high on the East face. Included approx location. Snow depth was 100cm, I got ECT-P 21 in my test. Broke 35cm down, fist to 4F cohesive wind slab breaking on a 5cm thick layer of 1-2mm facets. Q1, and at least two additional obvious layers from 60 cm to the ground. Lotta facets from 40cm to the ground. 
 

That kind of slab is my ultimate scary moderate. I backed off the slope and skied mellow terrain out. Calm skies, cold. Snow had been impacted by wind all the way down, funky and variable. Beautiful day to be out though! 

I took a tour up the main fork of hyalite and approached a west facing wall near hyalite lake. at around 9200 feet I dug a pit to check the snow pack
I could tell the snow pack structure was not great because while skinning up I would either sink deep into the snow pack or stay on top the wind crust
Here is what I found
Slope angle 37deg
105 snow depth
ECTP 20
Failed 25cm off ground on large grain facets
Snow structure was not good and I did not ride that slope and went back down my skin track

The wind over the past week really hammered the snow above hyalite lake

I did find good riding below the lake