Northern Madison

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. 

We skied Middle Basin and Going Home Shoot today. Around 9am, wind was calm with a high OVC cloud ceiling. By 10:30, the clouds rolled in and S-1 to S1 began for about 2 hours. The clouds raised, snow ceased, and the sun peaked through by 12:30pm.

No cracking, collapsing or evidence of avalanches were observed throughout the day. Middle basin skied well with ~6-10” of recent snow in places- the formation of a new snow slab seemed to be in the making. Although wind was calm today, cornices and windboard were apparent on the Beehive-Middle Ridge.

Small slide in terrain trap. Looks to be old, likely from before the wind event that occurred mid last week. A snowmobile track leads into it with wind-drifted snow covering the track. Photo: L Welles

Small slide in terrain trap. Looks to be old, likely from before the wind event that occurred mid last week. A snowmobile track leads into it with wind-drifted snow covering the track.

 We triggered a 12" soft wind slab on a NE facing slope at 9,5k'. Photo: J Gerardi

From email: "Rode buck today.  It was very windy this week.  Open areas are quite scoured, but there are still great stashes to be found if you hunt around.  We triggered a 12" soft wind slab on a NE facing slope at 9,5k'." 

Snow rangers went as far as 3rd Yellowmule. We saw no new snow but evidence of wind effect, including a sizable, probable windslab avalanche Top of Macattee Basin