It only took 20 minutes of skinning before we triggered a small avalanche in a terrain trap from a flat bench above. This slide (R3 D1) broke 150' wide, about a foot deep, and filled the creek bed below. Photo: GNFAC
It only took 20 minutes of skinning before we triggered a small avalanche in a terrain trap from a flat bench above. This slide (R3 D1) broke 150' wide, about a foot deep, and filled the creek bed below. Photo: GNFAC
It only took 20 minutes of skinning before we triggered a small avalanche in a terrain trap from a flat bench above. This slide (R3 D1) broke 150' wide, about a foot deep, and filled the creek bed below. Photo: GNFAC
We triggered a small avalanche in a terrain trap from a flat bench above in Beehive Basin. This slide (R3 D1) broke 150' wide, about a foot deep, and filled the creek bed below.
I slid down the ridgeline between Truman and jones creek on Friday. Dug a quick pit where Alex likes to dig on the wnw aspect of the shoulder next to the main path. Melt/freeze at the ground about a foot thick, ten inches of loose facets on that, and a wind crust topping it 1-4 inches thick. And 5 inches of new snow. I skied the ridge down and the old drifts were supportable but intermittent. Eighteen inches of faceted snow in between that made for challenging skiing. It will be interesting to see what 2 inches of swe will do
It was still snowing heavily when we arrived at the Beehive Basin trailhead this morning. We noted about 12-18" of new snow and winds blowing from the NE. It only took 20 minutes of skinning before we triggered a small avalanche in a terrain trap from a flat bench above. This slide (R3 D1) broke 150' wide, about a foot deep, and filled the creek bed below.
As we continued up the basin, we pulled off just south of Tyler's and dug a snowpit in a protected meadow at 8446'. Our snowpit (HS 130) gave us clear, unstable test results: ECTP 10 and 18. Propagation occurred at the storm snow interface (10) and on the faceted persistent weak layer close to the ground (18). Our snowpit was a great piece of data, but, after triggering an avalanche moments before, we had all the feedback we needed to stick to a conservative travel plan. We chose to stay in the basin and give a wide berth to slopes steeper than 30°.
Once this period of active loading ends, the storm snow instability will settle out relatively soon. But we are not forgetting about the persistent weak layers that are still lurking at the base of our snowpack.
