Becker Peak

I went out this afternoon to see what the winds were doing and gather more information about the Feb 10 facet layer in the Becker area. I skinned up the south side and stopped at 8200 feet east of the summit.

Winds had died down compared to earlier in the day. There were a few short periods of stronger gusts, but overall it was light and at times calm. I saw no blowing snow. The south side consisted of melt-freeze crust with shallow surface melt and breakable crust, limiting snow transport from southwest winds.

On my way up I stomped on a few cornices that were formed in the last couple of days. These were small and fairly easy to break off.  They did not trigger anything below. There was a thin 2 cm wind skin in areas closer to the peak that cracked as I skinned through them.  I also noticed an older wind slab crown from the storm a few days ago. It was small, roughly 1’ deep, with some hangfire remaining.

I dug a pit at 8100 feet on a NNE aspect close to the ridge. The Feb 10 Facet layer was 4 F and my shovel tilt test showed no significant results. I had a CT29 RP on the Feb 10 facet layer below the rain crust.

I then rode down the slope and dug a hasty pit at 7620 ft on a 35-40 degree slope open to the sky. I found the Feb 10 facet layer to be much weaker here. It was F hard and 15 cm thick. The facets were more well formed in the top 7cm of this layer and slightly more condensed in the lower half of the layer. There were no significant results in a shovel tilt test. The rain crust above the facets seemed to be deteriorating more so in this midslope zone than up near the ridge.  This layer will be of concern in this area with the incoming storm and has strong snow below it to create a bed surface.