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Ascent
Left the car at Bear Lake at 4am, arrived at the south shore of Emerald Lake just after 5am. Snow conditions up to the shelf above and around the Yam Wall were very firm this early in the morning. Reached the base of the Tyndall Glacier at 7:30 and started climbing the ramp between the flanks of Hallett and the rock rib on the left side of the glacier.
The Tyndall GlacierThe snow was soft in some confined spots but was firm for the most part all the way up to the top. Ice axe placements felt very secure. Topped out at 8am and headed up to Hallett's summit.
Descent
On my way down to Andrews Pass, I decided to head up to Otis Peak. I summited just after 9:30am as my sea-level conditioning was starting to catch up with me.
Otis PeakDown at the pass, I was ready to descend at 10am. The snow on Andrews Glacier was soft but still felt secure. After four glissades (two on the glacier and two on the snowfield below the tarn) I regained my composure. There are some sketchy runouts on the snowfield and with soft snow it made for some excitement.
Firm snow through the trees along Andrews Creek. Postholed only maybe a handful of times (all of this was before noon). Back to the car at 1pm. The last half mile from Glacier Gorge junction to Bear Lake was not appreciated.