Simple Obs in Beehive/Middle Basins

Took advantage of yesterday's fresh snow and headed to Beehive Basin for a short tour searching for soft snow. I did not make any formal observations on the day, but dug a handful of quick hand pits and probed for layers on a number of aspects. Our travel varied on all aspects except for true north facing slopes and we stayed between 8000' and 9000'. There seemed to be about 4-8 inches of fresh snow that fell on a variety of surfaces ranging from melt freeze crusts on solar aspects to snow that stayed dry through the last warm-up on shadier slopes. There was very little evidence of wind on the new snow and fresh cornice formation was minimal.

Overall snow depths ranged from about 2' to 3' and coverage was quite good for this time of year. Shadier slopes yielded an encouraging snowpack that felt mostly right side up with relatively strong grains. The new snow was not forming any real slab. On solar aspects the snowpack was much more variable/upside down and the snow underneath the melt freeze crust felt weak. On one particular hand pit, while cutting a block, the new snow and underlying crust failed in the old snow as one cohesive piece. Overall, great day out, with awesome snow, and I am excited about what I'm seeing for the most part.