Couple more (Blackmore and Gallatin Peaks) for stoke purposes…. it’s coming!

Anyone been up there yet?

went up camping at emerald lake two weekends ago(opening day of rifle) and was pretty surprised how much snow was up there. had been consolidated and windblown but coulda got some decent turns on the apron above heather lake if i would have brought the board(d’oh). did run into a older fellow with tele gear heading in on sunday as we headed out. oh and had some of the strongest wind all night that i have seen in a long time, it even bent my poles on my new sierra design tent since i was too lazy to reposition/guy out(was flattening my buddies kelty though). anyways should be here soon :drool:

Guess I’ll keep this thread alive, though there’s not much new to report w/ our snowpack here in SWMT. Made it down south of Lionhead again in an attempt to find some more easy access long low angle descents, which will become a hot commodity once the weak, faceted snowpack receives a substantial load.
Zone we explored:

I know it’s a skier… but at least it’s a conditions report and not a TR!

Found a gnarly, thin, pencil-hard windslab layer on an E-NE aspect about 2″ below the surface that capped facets below and provided an excellent planar bed surface for everything above. Not much energy in the pack currently (only about 30cm deep @ 8k’ in that area), but when anything substantial loads on top of it, watch out!
Checked out a zone near Bacon Rind the next day and found a similar structure and depth but w/out the gnarly windslab. Like the avy guys said, facets make for great riding conditions.
Anyone else been riding?

Thanks for the updates Nick. I was riding a small east facing slope in the northern Gallatins this weekend, about 7,400 ft. Yep, it’s just like reported on the avy report all facets, little depth. It was ok riding in the grassy areas but the trees need another 2 or 3 feet before you can start ignoring stumps etc.

I agree, this season, long low angled slopes are probably going to be pretty well sought after. Unless of course we get a HUGE avy cycle that rips out all the crap, followed by another real good storm.

On a positive note, Bridger was actually worth every bit of the $20 I spent there yesterday. North facing terrain was pretty good, especially stuff on the north side of any trees. Exit Chute was a blast. The High-T was… interesting.

That’s funny you say that about History Rock Sam- I was about to post the exact same thing, almost verbatim. I’ve been up there every afternoon this week post work. Still riding fairly well though (for a bump run). Looks like that might change tonight!

Well I figured I should make the first post of 2012 to document yet more crappy conditions.
Spent the weekend touring in the Beartooths near Red Lodge again. Saw some older slab avalanche activity and even some major
wetslide activity on a SE facing slope!
Big crown above Misery Bowl which we’d ridden a couple weeks earlier (on 2′ of facets!):

Wet slides in another cirque further south:

Text from the adventure if anyone cares: http://mtsplitski.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/more-beartooths-hellroaring-silver-run/
We did surprisingly find some good powderlike snow on a sheltered, lower elevation n/ne aspect the next day.
Other than after work History Rock tours in the late PM, I haven’t toured in Bozeman since early Dec!
Lots of travel w/ the holidays. Anyone getting out around Bozeman (or elsewhere)?

Cold be damned, I finally found some time for a bigger tour on Saturday up below Hyalite Peak. Things were definitely stabilizing up there and quality was maintaining so well. However, the summit shut me out once again due to some touchy windslabs in the exposed n/ne facing zone on the peak. On a representative slope, we got an ECTP 16 Q1 breaking on small facets about 60-70cm down! Yikes. Still, managed some awesome fun riding on blower pow.
Lapped the heck out of the slopes below the headwall, which are sheltered enough and offer up some seriously fun terrain. Plenty of rock jibs and natural halfpipes.
Photos and words for anyone inclined: http://mtsplitski.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/hyalite-creek/ or a TR here on the site.