Beaver Mountain

In my pursuit of snow off-the-beaten-path, toured up the primary ridge of Beaver. I found an average snowpack depth around 8-12 inches up to 9,000 feet. Snow here has stayed cold and dry on many aspects that aren't due solar despite warmer temperatures and mirrored the snowpack structure I found in the Snake River Range yesterday. I bailed off of my primary exit objective due to rock and tree hazard which was no surprise, but unless salvaged by very large late winter or spring storms, most of this terrain will remain inaccessible to a skier or rider. I imagine entering terrain in this section of the zone via Cliff Creek is far better. The snowpack ranging E-SE was comprised of a stout melt-freeze crust with a few inches of facets beneath, capped with surface hoar. The primary composition of this snowpack where I toured was dry large facets with a few weak crusts, but enough weak surface snow to cause some avalanching with the next loading event. Either way, the volume of snow available is relatively low in the Hoback, and would not produce a large avalanche until loaded significantly.