Peak 10602

Yesterday we went to check out the new snow in Beehive Basin. We dug a pit on the south face of Peak 10602, and conducted an ECT with results ECTN8@20, ECTN11@30, and ECTN25@60. The new snow total in this location was 30cm. Although we saw no propagation, a hand shear test (photo) and a shear conducted on the remaining ECT block (photo) resulted in a Q1 shear at the interface at the bottom of the new snow. The bottom layers of the snow pack were wet from the rain that preceded the snow, and we noted that the crust below the new snow was soft and breakable and all aspects. While traversing to the top of Peruvian, along the north ridge of 10602, we triggered a small wind slab (photos) that carried down into Peruvian, which then released another small wind slab on a northeast aspect of the face (photo). The crown height of this wind slab was measured at 60cm at it's deepest point, and approximately 30ft wide by 10ft long. Looking down into the face of Peruvian, we observed a natural dry loose slide that released from the ridge (photo). We observed an increase in wind speed throughout the morning, and a shift in wind direction from west to southwest in the early morning moving to west to north west by the late morning. The combination of variable and high winds with the amount of new snow available for transport created a noticeable increase in the hazard of wind slabs on all aspects we observed during the morning. With the danger rising, we picked a highly conservative route out and only lingered when we got to the brewery.