Hyalite Peak Summer Ski

Gallatin Range

Date: June 25, 2019

Distance: 12.9 miles

Elevation Gain: 3,682 ft

Moving Time: 6 hours 19 mins

Partner: Kelly Wood

Link to Strava Activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/2483293988

Skis: Black Diamond Helio 95 183 cm

Boots: Salomon MTN Explore

Camera: Sony A7RIII

Lens: Sony 24-105 F/4

After a failed attempt to ride my bike from my house and ski off Hyalite Peak in May (see previous trip report), I went back for some redemption. Thankfully, the road up Hyalite Canyon was reopened for the season which made this a more reasonable outing. Kelly joined me on this outing and we were on the trail by 8:30 am.

The first 3 miles of the trail were free from snow which made for efficient hiking. We ran into a bunch of other groups out hiking. It’s always fun to hear what people have to say when they see skis on your back in June. We both wore hiking boots and gaiters due to the wet conditions caused by the run off from snow melt. 2019 was an above average snow year for SW Montana, so running shoes may be a better choice for future years during early summer outings.

Hiking on dry ground and being to follow the summer trail was such a refreshing change compared to my previous outing, with no skin track to follow and snow constantly sticking to my skins. After 4 miles of hiking, we crossed the bridge at Apex Falls and transitioned to skins. I always bring a trash bag to put hiking boots in when I stash them since rain is usually a possibility this time of year. Plus, trash bags weigh virtually nothing. This is a great spot to transition from hiking boots to skis as you can ski all the way back down to this spot without having to don skins on the descent.

Skinning from Apex Falls starts out steep and in the trees. It is probably the most difficult part of the ascent, ignoring the cornice on the Hyalite Peak ridge. Eventually, we made our way through the trees and the terrain opened up into the Hyalite Lake basin. You’ll see a huge rock outcropping (pictured in the gallery below) when you leave the trees which serves as a good navigational landmark. The best skinning route is to stay just left of this all the way to the main ridge. As soon as we left the trees, we were welcomed with intense sunlight. The snow was warming up but there were no signs of wet avalanches. We headed towards the peak following a pre-existing skin track. We never stopped in one spot for very long as the snow was starting to get sticky on the skins. I can’t stress enough the importance of waxing skins for summer ski adventures.

We stayed lookers right in the basin and made our way up to the saddle beneath Hyalite Peak. As always, the sizeable cornice was there but we picked a spot where it was the smallest and were able to get up and over it onto the ridge. Once we get on the ridge, we noticed some ominous, dark clouds approaching from the southwest. After a brief conversation, we decided to continue up the ridge but plan to turn around if it started raining at all. Without a tree in sight, it is not the place you would want to be when a summer thunderstorm rolls through. We were able to continue skinning up the ridge until we were a hundred yards from the peak. At this point, there was not enough snow cover due to the intense wind the scree field up there often sees. The weather wasn’t improving, so we quickly ripped skins to prepare for downhill skiing and left our skis at the base of the exposed scree field. We scrambled up to the peak in ski boots and took a few photos. The views from the top of Hyalite Peak are spectacular and the visibility was pretty good.

As soon as we started heading back down to our skis, it started lightly snowing. This was a welcome surprise as I figured any precipitation would come in the form of rain with the temperatures in the 50s. The ski line directly off the peak was pretty exposed at the top and had a tight crux at the bottom, so we decided to ski back down the ridge and ski off the saddle we skinned up. We were greeted with some nice corn turns. After some aggressive poling, we made it back into the trees where we dodged the midfield of post holes in the snow caused by some motivated hikers. After one hole induced ejection, we were back at Apex Falls.

We traded ski boots for hiking boots and grabbed a quick snack before we started hiking back. Summer skiing is great because when you put on ski boots, you’re relieved to get the weight off your back. When you take ski boots off, you’re excited to put on more comfortable footwear even if it comes at the expense of extra weight on your back. It’s a win-win.

The 4 mile downhill hike back to the trailhead was a breeze and we stopped by Palisade Falls on the way back. I was expecting crowds, but we had it all to ourselves. This was probably due to the light rain falling from the sky. We took the Palisade Falls trail back to the truck which was a nice end to the hike with its sidewalk width and smooth surface.

Hyalite Peak is a great spot to get in a skiing adventures without the need to ski steep terrain (>45 degrees) like most surrounding peaks dictate.

Note: If you’re looking for a GPX route to follow for the skin track, use this route. Do NOT use my track from my previous attempt as it not the most efficient way to ascend or descent out of the basin.