Beehive - wind, facets, 1.5cm new snow

Beehive - wind, facets, 1.5cm new snow

Date
Activity
Skiing

I went to Beehive Basin and toured up Tyler's to the ridgeline, then to the north to dig a pit in Middle Basin. Wind was moderate with strong gusts out of the north when I got to the ridgeline, and it started to snow. By the time I left my snowpit at 1300 it had snowed 1.5cm, and wind let up but was still gusting moderate.

Tyler's was shallow and had either a wind crust or sun crust on top of 6-24" of faceted snow. Lots of tracks and wind scouring. Thin and firm conditions, and the new snow only improved appearance. Sun and wind sheltered slopes in Middle Basin still had soft, dry snow on the surface.

In my pit in Middle Basin I had stable results in 3 ects and 3 psts. ECTNs 20-29 and pst 42/100 arr, 47/100 arr on facets buried about a foot down. Pretty weak and generally stable. I put pit on website.

A big storm would be a concern on this snowpack. Otherwise, I think small fresh wind slabs and maybe an isolated larger slab that formed over the facets are only concerns right now. There are definitely weak layers, but I think large instabilities are isolated and fewer by the day. I don't think today's cms of snow will do much to change stability.

Photos attached of snow surface at the top of Tyler's and pit wall in Middle Basin.

Region
Northern Madison
Location (from list)
Middle Basin
Observer Name
Alex Marienthal