From IG: “(Photos) From a slide on the south side of October bowl today“
I skied all three meadows at History Rock this morning. The recent storms have done good things, and there is no longer a mix of snow and dirt, but around 3-9 inches of new snow in Hyalite. Winds were surprisingly light, mostly of of the south, and snowfall fluctuated between light and moderate, with a total of 2-3 inches of new snow on my car after several hours of skiing (it was good). The new snow didn't seem to be bonding great to the underlying crust, but I saw no bullseye signs of instability.
Skiers in the upper part of Beehive Basin noted shooting cracks within the wind-drifted snow. Photo: T. Cox
Party of three made our way into Beehive Basin up to near the bottom of 4th of July Couloir. Noted strong winds blowing from the south southwest (up the canyon) Saw shooting cracks up to 8 feet out skinning up a boulder pile on a east facing aspect, (picture my friend took). Snowpack still to shallow to confidently ski any of the upper couloirs. Further down in the canyon on the short grassier slopes snowpack was reasonably dense and stable with a weak crust layer under 8-10 inches of the light fluffy stuff, snow depth up to 2 feet in select spots. Friend reported hearing one small whumph breaking trail up to the ridge on a convex roll. Skied out the entire slope with 10ish other people and didn't see any other signs of instability.
We skied hidden gully that had small storm slabs that propagated at our ski tips and only ~3inches in depth.
Snowboarders in the northern Bridger Range found a thin snowpack with wind slabs layered on wind slabs. Photo: Z. Bailey
Snowboarders in the northern Bridger Range found a thin snowpack with wind slabs layered on wind slabs. Photo: Z. Bailey
From obs: "I’ve been skiing the Erma Road recently. Good conditions for a quick ski up the road by but it’s thin off the road. The 616 trail is too treacherous for my comfort zone. I think the Republic Creek alpine valley must be skiable though. Quick observation:a sun crust formed in the open areas on the road and on adjacent areas."
