Sticking to Slopes less than 30 degrees

For longevity in the backcountry, base terrain selection decisions on indicators of instability rather than stability and consider the big picture rather than the small one. That is what we did in Beehive/ Bear Basins today (2/15). With an avalanche warning in place, a foot of new snow, a natural avalanche across the valley, and a snowpack that has proven to be reliably unstable this season, we ignored stable test results (ECTN teens and 20s) and absence of observed cracking/ collapsing. We executed our plan to avoid terrain over 30 degrees. Additionally, with the season's history of triggering avalanches from long distances away, we were cautious about traveling below steep slopes.

We met an avalanche class who were working on snowpits closer to the ridgeline. The group experienced one large collapse and had a number of test results that propagated on the weak faceted snow low in the snowpack.