Quick report
Overcast skies turned into slight flurries shortly before leaving my car at 3pm . Intensity picked up as I skinned on 4x4 track along Galena Creek and peaked (more than I expected this far north) with some breeziness as I transitioned to a-frame/crampons at 8600’ mouth of SSE-facing couloir around 4:30pm. Intensity of snow may have kept up for awhile during climb, but sheltering of couloir broke the wind and made it seem less so than at the mouth. By the time I reached my 9.8K high point around 7:30, snow seemed to have petered out and skies began to clear. Climbing conditions of couloir itself have deteriorated (but still passable) over last 10 days due to melt/settling/today’s new snow not yet bonding at the melt-freeze interface. Despite climbing almost exact same line/tracks, I punched through (or crampons slipped at interface) on multiple occasions leading to longer (and sometimes sketchier with punch throughs) climbing time. As well, meltout sections have expanded and a 100% continuous thru ski top to bottom is no longer possible (but still pretty filled in and the new snow should make it enjoyable on the exit tomorrow.