Aug 19, 2017, Heliotrope Ridge

My friend and I started hiking around 9am after getting our forest pass in Glacier.  Granted our packs were probably heavier than need be, we got to the snow around noon took a break for lunch. The snow at that time was nice and it felt like good spring snow, but did have sun cups.  On the way up we figured out my friend forgot his skins, so we used duct tape and it actually worked!! Making a 1 inch flapper about every 3 to 4 inches.  Yes this did pull some wax off at the top but it got the job done and he was able to skin up in MacGyver style. After taking a break to eat and construct duck tape skins we started skinning up around one or 1:30 PM. We got to the very top 7100 feet around 330 and we're on our way down By 4pm.  The snow had hardened up a little and we could feel it walking up but we wanted to get to the top. Next time we're going to start our hike two hours earlier so we can ride down down when the snow was more fresh.  Advice would be to be descending on your snowboard or ski's no later than two or 2:30 PM. Otherwise, it was a great day with amazing views and a surprisingly long run! We plan on doing it again!!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B83rDG2Lnfp4T1RCYVRKWlhJREU