Buried surface hoar in Beehive

We toured up the ridge between Going Home Chute and Tyler's (below prayer flags). We saw evidence of a large avalanche that broke during the avalanche warning last weekend in Going Home Chute, R3-D2.5 (see photos). It appeared to have run to the end of the runout zone and tipped over small trees. We dug a pit near the top of our ascent on a west aspect at 9,100'. HS was 160cm and we found surface hoar buried 55cm deep (105cm above ground). It did not propagate or easily break in our tests, but it was a clear stripe in the wall and may have contributed to the adjacent large avalanche last weekend.

We dug a second pit over the ridge in Middle Basin on an east aspect at 9,200'. HS was 175cm and buried surface hoar was 80 cm deep (95cm above ground). It did not break or propagate in standard ECT, but did propagate cleanly after 4-5 extra hard hits. Old faceted layers deeper in the snowpack were generally strong in both pits.

We also saw a crown of a large avalanche from earlier in the week on the west side of Beehive Basin, on an east facing slope around 8,800'. R3-D2, 2-3 feet deep, 150' wide.