The winds picked up over night and were forecast to be active during the day along with mostly clear skies. I decided to head for the Galloway Bowl with hopes of getting some views to the Herbst Glacier that weren't afforded last spring when we made the trek for the first time ever.

I recycled the up and dropped from the same spot on the backside of the knob. The wind had beat me and the open slope was mostly toast already. This time I descended until I couldn't anymore rather than traversing over towards Herbst. Skins on I was relying on memory and a handful of gps waypoints from last spring. I really need to get the US topo data soon! I got a bit off track and gained some elevation, only to have to give it away. In the dense forest at the bottom of the valley it's virtually impossible to see any landmarks. There are numerous creeks to cross, most of which are at the bottoms of fairly steep banks.

Soon enough I started to gain the ridge, which we didn't name last year, so I'm going to call it H.S. Ridge. That may or may not stand for Homeland Security Ridge. The wind hadn't been able to penetrate down into the forest so trail breaking was light to moderate. Eventually the distinctive east ridge appeared followed shortly by the buttress at the top of the Galloway bowl. I made my way to the bottom and debated making a lap. It's an extra 1,000 feet of trail breaking and it'd be a shame to come all this way and not bag it, but time wasn't on my side. I opted to head down via the same exit we'd taken last spring. It was also left unnamed, but given that it's on the H.S. Ridge, it's only natural to call it H.S. Chute. Could that be the Holy Shit Chute? There is one a bit to the south that looks to have a pretty big mandatory in the middle of it. This one goes all the way and is probably called Homeland Security Chute. I grabbed some nice photos of Herbst Glacier before enjoying great turns all the way down.

I opted to take a different route back home this time. I had broken in the up from the Grizzly Pass meadow a few days ago so all I needed to do was skirt the one high point between me and the meadow and then recycle the up. A couple of creek crossings led me to the base of the high point and I changed my mind - rather than going around it, I was going to climb it. I soon gained the top of it, named it Warden's Knob (we once ran into park warden's on the wrong side of the 49 - they were on their way back from skiing this feature), and made a half dozen turns down to the meadow. The up track soon became filled with hard slab, while the adjoining snow was scoured, but with a very light wind crust. It was easier to re-break than to deal with the side slipping when the skin track wide hard slab would break with each step. Not what I'd hoped for as it burned time and energy - both things I was running short on.

I finally crested Summit Ridge and headed for the Hook. It offered up more good turns thanks to the shelter. I bailed on the open slopes that normally greet you at the end of the Hook and instead traversed over to just beside Christmas Tree Hell before enjoying a few more sheltered powder turns down the lake.

The wind on the lake was down right miserable - goggles and big gloves until I hit the shore. Head lamp came on near the Akamina Pass trail head and I finally arrived at the vehicle after 13.9 miles and 6,270 feet.