Northern Madison

We toured up to the prayer flags, digging a couple of hand pits to look at the snowpack structure on Tyler's before bumping over the ridge to dig a full pit in Spanky's. We did not ski down into Bear Basin, but others had done so. We returned out through Exit Chute and back to the car. 

The snowpack remains thin (20-25 inches of mostly unconsolidated base) and there were plenty of rocks and stumps to hit, but coverage was better than I expected (and probably better than most of December 2023). The structure was looking pretty good for early season. There were a few crust/ facet layers on west aspects, but nothing out of the normal. In our pit at the top of Spanky's (NE Facing at 9200'), there was a 10 cm layer of 4F facets at the base of the snowpack and some evidence of faceting throughout the older snow. However, the overall outlook is good for now. ECTN 14 at 41 cm and ECTN 19 and 21 at 19 cm. 

Primary concerns were the shallow snowpack (we traveled downhill very slowly) and wind slabs. On the drive toward Gallatin Canyon this morning, we saw large plumes of snow blowing off the high peaks. We didn't see evidence of recent wind transport on our tour, but I'd be watching out for it. 

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.

Skiers in the upper part of Beehive Basin noted shooting cracks within the wind-drifted snow. Photo: T. Cox

Party of three made our way into Beehive Basin up to near the bottom of 4th of July Couloir. Noted strong winds blowing from the south southwest (up the canyon) Saw shooting cracks up to 8 feet out skinning up a boulder pile on a east facing aspect, (picture my friend took). Snowpack still to shallow to confidently ski any of the upper couloirs. Further down in the canyon on the short grassier slopes snowpack was reasonably dense and stable with a weak crust layer under 8-10 inches of the light fluffy stuff, snow depth up to 2 feet in select spots. Friend reported hearing one small whumph breaking trail up to the ridge on a convex roll. Skied out the entire slope with 10ish other people and didn't see any other signs of instability.

Inch thick crust on SW slope in Divide Basin. Photo: C. Daniels

Toured through divide basin to divide peak this morning. Snow in the basin around 130cm based on ski pole penetration however the peak itself only had about 35cm where we dug a pit on a SW slope. The new snow was sitting on a sun crust about an inch thick that was very hard to break and took a solid punch with my fist to break. Underneath the crust was all sugary facets sitting on rock. Semi-Poor skiing

Ian and I drove up the Langhor Road in Hyalite Canyon in order to access the upper meadows of History Rock. We wrapped around and intersected with the trail in the mid-elevation meadows. Snow depths varied from 0" to 18." We toured into the middle of the three ski meadows before stopping to assess how the season's thin snowpack is evolving. The snowpack has a relatively simple, three layer structure. The lowest layer is beginning to show signs of weakening (faceting). However, the foundation of the snowpack was looking pretty good for now. ECTX. While we are optimistic for now, the snowpack is thin and can change quickly this time of year. There was evidence of wind in the History Rock area, this has likely built wind-slabs at higher elevations and more open terrain. 

The critical piece of information is that at mid to upper elevations the ground is mostly covered and we have a layered snowpack. We will stay tuned to how the snowpack evolves and how well subsequent storms bond to what we have on the ground.