diff --git a/doc/clusters/frontier.rst b/doc/clusters/frontier.rst
index fb723d95..2694d5e5 100644
--- a/doc/clusters/frontier.rst
+++ b/doc/clusters/frontier.rst
@@ -17,26 +17,40 @@ If you already have a clone, update it::
     $ cd software
     $ git pull origin trunk
 
-Per OLCF policies, you should install your software in NFS under ``/ccs/proj/``. For example,
-set the installation root directory to ``/ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/${USER}``.
+You should install your software in NFS under ``/ccs/proj/``. For example,
+set the installation root directory to ``/ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/frontier/${USER}``.
 
 Build the software environment and install it into the root::
 
-    $ script/frontier/install.sh /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/${USER}
+    $ script/frontier/install.sh /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/frontier/${USER}
     ... compiling software will take several minutes ...
 
 Activate the environment with::
 
-    $ source /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/${USER}/environment.sh
+    $ source /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/frontier/${USER}/environment.sh
 
 The environment is a `python3 venv <https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html>`_. You may extend
 it with additional python packages using ``python3 -m pip install``::
 
-    $ source /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/${USER}/environment.sh
+    $ source /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/frontier/${USER}/environment.sh
     $ python3 -m pip install package
 
-Use the following commands in your job scripts or interactively to execute software inside the
-container::
+Importing Python packages from this environment will be *very* slow with large node count jobs.
+To improve performance, generate a tar file with the environment and store it on Orion (repeat this
+step after you update the environment or install packages with ``pip``)::
+
+    $ /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/frontier/${USER}/generate-tar-cache.sh \
+      ${MEMBERWORK}/{your-project}/software.tar
+
+Use the following commands in your job scripts (or interactively with ``salloc``) to load the cache
+into NVME and execute software from there::
+
+    #SBATCH -C nvme
+
+    export GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT=/mnt/bb/${USER}/software
+    srun --ntasks-per-node 1 mkdir ${GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT}
+    srun --ntasks-per-node 1 tar --directory ${GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT} -xpf \
+      ${MEMBERWORK}/{your-project}/software.tar
+    source ${GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT}/variables.sh
 
-    source /ccs/proj/{your-project}/software/${USER}/environment.sh
     srun {srun options} command arguments
diff --git a/script/frontier/install.sh b/script/frontier/install.sh
index ad5d1e18..7f6300c9 100755
--- a/script/frontier/install.sh
+++ b/script/frontier/install.sh
@@ -16,16 +16,16 @@ ROOT=$(realpath $1)
 echo "Installing glotzerlab-software to $ROOT"
 module purge
 module load PrgEnv-gnu
-module load cray-python/3.9.13.1
+module load cray-python/3.10.10
 python3 -m venv $ROOT
 
-cat >$ROOT/environment.sh << EOL
+cat >$ROOT/variables.sh << EOL
 module purge
 module load PrgEnv-gnu
 module load cmake/3.23.2
 module load git/2.36.1
 module load rocm/5.4.3
-module load cray-python/3.9.13.1
+module load cray-python/3.10.10
 module load hdf5/1.14.0
 module load ninja/1.10.2
 module load tmux/3.2a
@@ -34,12 +34,13 @@ module unload darshan-runtime
 # The cray-mpich module does not provide this, it is needed to build mpi4py from source.
 export MPICC=\$CRAY_MPICH_DIR/bin/mpicc
 
-export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ROOT/lib:\$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-export PATH=$ROOT/bin:\$PATH
-export CPATH=$ROOT/include
-export LIBRARY_PATH=$ROOT/lib
-export VIRTUAL_ENV=$ROOT
-export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$ROOT
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/lib:\$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+export PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/bin:\$PATH
+export CPATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/include
+export LIBRARY_PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/lib
+export VIRTUAL_ENV=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT
+export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT
+export PYTHONPATH=\$(\${GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT}/bin/python -c 'import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])')
 export CC=\$GCC_PATH/bin/gcc
 export CXX=\$GCC_PATH/bin/g++
 
@@ -49,7 +50,31 @@ export ROCM_HOME=\$OLCF_ROCM_ROOT
 export HCC_AMDGPU_TARGET=gfx90a
 
 export PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+
+# work around PMI_Init mmap sync errors
+export PMI_MMAP_SYNC_WAIT_TIME=1800
+EOL
+
+cat >$ROOT/environment.sh << EOL
+export GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT=$ROOT
+source \$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/variables.sh
+EOL
+
+cat >$ROOT/generate-tar-cache.sh << EOL
+#! /usr/bin/bash
+usage="\$(basename "\$0") output-file -- Generate a tar cache file."
+
+if [[ \$# -lt 1 || \$# -gt 1  || \$1 == "-h" ]]
+then
+    echo "\$usage"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+DEST=\$(realpath \$1)
+
+tar --directory $ROOT --exclude software.tar -cf \$DEST .
 EOL
+chmod ug+x $ROOT/generate-tar-cache.sh
 
 source $ROOT/environment.sh
 
diff --git a/template/frontier.jinja b/template/frontier.jinja
index df97f883..5f061b2f 100644
--- a/template/frontier.jinja
+++ b/template/frontier.jinja
@@ -16,16 +16,16 @@ ROOT=$(realpath $1)
 echo "Installing glotzerlab-software to $ROOT"
 module purge
 module load PrgEnv-gnu
-module load cray-python/3.9.13.1
+module load cray-python/3.10.10
 python3 -m venv $ROOT
 
-cat >$ROOT/environment.sh << EOL
+cat >$ROOT/variables.sh << EOL
 module purge
 module load PrgEnv-gnu
 module load cmake/3.23.2
 module load git/2.36.1
 module load rocm/5.4.3
-module load cray-python/3.9.13.1
+module load cray-python/3.10.10
 module load hdf5/1.14.0
 module load ninja/1.10.2
 module load tmux/3.2a
@@ -34,12 +34,13 @@ module unload darshan-runtime
 # The cray-mpich module does not provide this, it is needed to build mpi4py from source.
 export MPICC=\$CRAY_MPICH_DIR/bin/mpicc
 
-export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ROOT/lib:\$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-export PATH=$ROOT/bin:\$PATH
-export CPATH=$ROOT/include
-export LIBRARY_PATH=$ROOT/lib
-export VIRTUAL_ENV=$ROOT
-export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$ROOT
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/lib:\$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+export PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/bin:\$PATH
+export CPATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/include
+export LIBRARY_PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/lib
+export VIRTUAL_ENV=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT
+export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=\$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT
+export PYTHONPATH=\$(\${GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT}/bin/python -c 'import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])')
 export CC=\$GCC_PATH/bin/gcc
 export CXX=\$GCC_PATH/bin/g++
 
@@ -49,7 +50,31 @@ export ROCM_HOME=\$OLCF_ROCM_ROOT
 export HCC_AMDGPU_TARGET=gfx90a
 
 export PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+
+# work around PMI_Init mmap sync errors
+export PMI_MMAP_SYNC_WAIT_TIME=1800
+EOL
+
+cat >$ROOT/environment.sh << EOL
+export GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT=$ROOT
+source \$GLOTZERLAB_SOFTWARE_ROOT/variables.sh
+EOL
+
+cat >$ROOT/generate-tar-cache.sh << EOL
+#! /usr/bin/bash
+usage="\$(basename "\$0") output-file -- Generate a tar cache file."
+
+if [[ \$# -lt 1 || \$# -gt 1  || \$1 == "-h" ]]
+then
+    echo "\$usage"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+DEST=\$(realpath \$1)
+
+tar --directory $ROOT --exclude software.tar -cf \$DEST .
 EOL
+chmod ug+x $ROOT/generate-tar-cache.sh
 
 source $ROOT/environment.sh