Montana Peak E Couloir

Climbed the E face couloir to N face of Montana peak. At upper elevations the early season snowpack is already quite deep, likely 4-6' although we were unable to reach the bottom. In the East facing couloir there was an obvious melt freeze crust lower down, but at higher elevations near the top of the couloir it was less present. Throughout the whole couloir there was evidence of wind transport, with intermittent 3-4" windslabs being present. The slabs were mostly isolated, and did not show a propensity to propagate, we noticed occasional cracking but it did not extend beyond a foot or two, quick hand pits showed the slab was generally thin and low energy. Below the slabs was deeper settled powder, with an obvious layer of facets (from the long period of cold temps) on top. This is a scary setup and we were glad that the slabs above were thin and isolated. On the north face (not as much information since we were only on it for a few hundred feet) there was less evidence of wind slabs, and no evidence of melt freeze action.

Quick report