Bottomless Snowpack and Stability Beehive

Our party toured into Beehive on Saturday. There was about 20-25 inches of new snow on our approach in.

We dug a pit at approx. 8,700 ft on a S aspect. Our 280cm probe couldn’t reach the bottom of the snowpack, it was the most snow we’d seen in the zone. There was 60cm (24in) of new snow that was perfectly bonded the the crust layer below. The next 60cm below this was a mix of 1f to P hard melt-freeze crusts that showed now signs of instability.

Our extended column test resulted in an ECTX and showed nothing but stability within the new snow. We reached the summit and skied the S ramp of 10,602, it was deep. As we exited the basin there was significant warming that had taken place at lower elevations but no signs of instability yet.