Quick report
Toured into Glacial Gulch this morning hoping to enjoy a flashback to winter in the high elevations - I found something between spring and winter. A soft freeze with a few inches of warm and gummy snow held consistent until about 10,000 feet and made uphill travel generally unpleasant. On the shaded Teton Glacier new snow became significantly lighter and and increased to depths between 4 to 8 inches depending on wind distribution. An unexpected blast of mid-morning sun deterred me from my original objective further up canyon, as fresh rime and water ice began rapidly delaminating from solar rock faces and significant rock/ice fall on the north side of the Grand Teton created unwanted ambiance. I ended up climbing and skiing the South Couloir of Peak 11840 with a successful summit. Consistent strong (20-30mph estimate) northerly winds were actively loading south faces with high density snow as I reached the west shoulder of Teewinot. Conditions in the couloir were variable, ranging from a pleasantly edge-able soft crust to pockets of wind drifted snow up to 18 inches, and everything in between. Hand pits on the ascent suggested wind slabs have formed in differing density layers over multiple days, and were generally well adhered to the soft crust beneath. No cracking was observed on the ascent or descent, but hollow sounds kept things tense, and the new "powder" did not ski particularly well. The crust did not become reliably supportable to human weight until about 11,000 feet. Below Delta Lake things got severely slushy and suction but never quite turned isothermal. The cloud line stayed consistent at 12,000 feet all day, save for one short but intense solar clearing around 9:00-10:00AM. All in all there is lots of snow available for transport in the high elevations on a variety of aspects, and wind slabs, though seemingly stubborn, are forming in relevant sizes on south, southeast and east aspects above treeline. I did not ski anything on the north/west sides of the compass. Conditions in the alpine are dynamic at this moment.