Northern Madison

We went on a safari of different snow conditions at Beehive today. We toured up to the prayer flags, looked into the top of Bear Basin on southeast and northeast aspects, and then returned to Beehive through the north edge of Tyler's. We dug a pit in the starting zone of Tyler's and were a bit surprised by an ECTP11 on basal depth hoar. There were percolation columns through the upper half of the snowpack and the lower two thirds of the snowpack were moist. You could make a snowball. The depth hoar remains very weak and F+ hardness. The stout melt freeze crust was 3" thick on the southwest aspect.

Surface snow conditions varied wildly as is often the case in the spring. There was cold powder on the northern half of the compass. The crust had broken down by 11 AM on the southeast aspect and the top 3-5" were wet and rollerballs were easy to push downhill. The southwest aspect was just starting to soften as we left at 1 PM. If we continue to get good overnight freezes, we will only have to worry about wet, loose snow avalanches. Wet slab activity should be limited if there is any. 

Had a pretty interesting collapse this afternoon while touring up the east ridge of Beehive. The slope I was on I measured at 30° at the highest, was below treeline but in a small meadow. The surface had melted and refroze. As I was touring across the small slope stomping to the to break the surface to set a better skin track the whole piece broke (150' wide by 50' down) together and moved down slope about 6". I quickly dug a little bit where it broke from the rest of the slope and it seamed to break near the ground, ~ 50cm and with the naked eye I could see large depth hore crystals and little to no rounding.

While I do think it was simply a collapse I was very surprised this happened and the way this whole piece moved on such a low angle slope. I hadn't seen something like this before. Guess it lines up with just how weird this season has been. 

~8560' west facing

45.31868, -111.38395

A rider triggered this avalanche in Taylor Fork on 3/16/24. "Avalanche broke about 400ft wide and slid for 250 ft. 4-2ft deep at the crown."

Avalanche broke about 400ft wide and slid for 250 ft. 4-2ft deep at the crown

Toured up to the ridge between Beehive and Middle Basins with an AIARE L2. On the lower ridge we found:

• Pit 1
  • W aspect, 9045ft
  • Height of Snow 120cm
  • ECTP 26 in facets around 80 cm down
  • PST 38/100 end
• Pit 2 and 3
  • E aspect, 9023ft
  • Height of Snow 150cm
  • ECTP X x2
  • PST 40/100 end
  • PST 89/100 end