Natural slides at Beehive/Bear cornices

Beehive Basin
Northern Madison
Code
C-NC-R1-D1-I
Elevation
9400
Aspect
E
Latitude
45.34070
Longitude
-111.39100
Notes

We toured up Tyler's Slope and dug at 9,200' on an west-facing slope. There was a 6" slab of snow sitting on fist hardness facets that propagated in our tests (ECTPV x2). Approaching the pit site we has some collapsing and shooting cracks. Continuing upslope we saw the cornices on the ridge had all broken and pulled out the wind-loaded pockets with one slope sliding 100' distance. These likely occurred last night.

We then dug on a east-facing slope to the north of the cornices and found 105 cm of snow and a 1 foot deep slab that broke in our test as an ECTP3. Low test scores, recent avalanche activity and cracking and collapsing was evidence of the snowpack's instability.

 

Number of slides
1
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Cornice fall
Trigger
Cornice fall
R size
1
D size
1
Bed Surface
I - Interface between new and old snow
Problem Type
Wind-Drifted Snow
Slab Thickness
12.0 inches
Vertical Fall
100ft
Slab Width
500.00ft
Weak Layer Grain type
Surface Hoar
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
inches
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year