On Sunday December 5th, winter finally arrived here in SW Montana. We went from dry tooling in t-shirts in 50 degree weather on Saturday to 15-degree, mid-winter ice climbing on Sunday. Things changed fast here and the only people more thankful were the Bozeman Icefest organizers. Speaking of, the Bozeman Icefest turned 25 this year and it was another amazing, incredibly well-run event. If you're an ice climber- you know about Bozeman Icefest but if you're not, you need to check out this special event either in town or take a clinic up in Hyalite and experience the magic of this amazing community.
Now for the conditions:
Ice Climbing: For Hyalite, overall climbs above 7,500' that survived the warm spell in early December are probably in (Check SW Montana Ice Conditions Facebook page for beta on individual climbs). As for the most popular routes in the canyon: Most of the middle and right side of G1 wall is in pretty rough shape but the left side has some good, mellow ice that can be TR'd. I haven't seen G2, Hangover or Upper Greensleeves recently but my assumption is that they are in. The Dribbles and Silken Falls look to be in good shape. Twin Falls has to be some of the most climbed ice this year and remains in good shape (but kicked out) and Cleo's has recently been climbed for the first time this year. As for the Unnamed Wall, The Fat One, and Elevator Shaft have recently been climbed and found to be in good shape. Champagne Sherbert and Champagne Slot (thin) are both in. Sleight of Hand is in with steep conditions at the top. We climbed Cave Falls Dec. 5th and Dec. 12th and found good ice with a hard starting column and bomber frozen moss hooks at the top.
Skiing: Bridger Bowl is opening Tuesday, December 21st. Tom and I skinned up to the Apron on Thursday Dec. 9th and found thin snow all the way to the base of the Apron but were surprised to find a foot of soft snow on top of ~2.5 feet of consolidated snow skiing very well. Today (12/15) brought about 10" of heavy snow to Bozeman and avalanche conditions are rated Considerable for all mountains around Bozeman. I'm staying out of avalanche terrain for a few days before getting a better picture of our local snowpack. As always we're checking the Avalanche Forecast at Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center at www.mtavalanche.com. If you plan to ski in this area this year I strongly encourage you to signup for the daily avalanche advisory and follow along with the story of our snowpack this year.
