Wanted to try and take advantage of the not so low Lows in East Glacier Sunday night and see if there was some soft snow to be had in southern GNP. Was treated to a Bluebird day until about 500 ft from the summit. Snow was as expected on the way up. Hard windblown snow and scoured ridgeline. No instabilities were noticed on the way up and the snow softened a bit so the skins could grip well. Ski down was many different things.
1. First 500 ft was scoured and kept skins on to preserve base from rocks
2. Next 500ish was a non-breakable crust that accepted turns better than expected
3. After that until it was 300-400 ft from the canyon floor it was to our surprise great heavy turns. The temps and sun seemed to melt the crust just enough. You could see the sheen on the surface of the snow but the turns felt like springtime.
4. After that it was mashed potatoes and back seat driving until we found the trail again.
Lots of cross loading was observed but everything appeared locked in. Only saw remnants of rollerballs from previous days. No old slide paths, no cornice breaks, etc. Got back to the car and beat the rain by about 15 minutes. Rained hard on route 2 until near Ousel peak on the drive out. Observed new slides near the road on the way out. Juneuary continues it seems.
