Becker Peak

We went to Becker Peak to look at the amount of snow melt and settlement after the rain. The new snow is any where from 1/2 to 1/3 what it was prior to the warming event. There was pooling liqud water on the surface of Echo lake. All snow we observed today was still wet.  There were no signs of a refreeze or a surface crust. It was thigh high "mash potatoes" or "mank". Ski pen was 8-20cm, boot pen was 48cm. The skinning was heavy with snow glopping on the skis; riding down was very slow and sticky.  The surface of the snow had debri from wind and accumulated snow melt; it looked dirty. There were runnels and uneven snow surfaces that looked like cups. I saw some minor glide cracks in steep terrain. Minimal signs of wet loose on tests slopes. The snow was so saturated with water, everything either sunk into it or fell apart due to lack of cohesion. 

We dug a pit at 7,900' on a north facing slope, in an area previously noted for well developed facets prior to the recent weather events. We saw a Sudden Collapse during 2x CTs, and propragation within the PST. Both of these test failures happened within the Feb 10th facet layer, which was down 54cm from the surface. The average HS in this area was 180cm.  The mid pack appeared to be soaked with percolating water; the faceted weak layer looked moist and slowly rounding from the weight above. 

There was a fresh debri field of a cornice collapse that looked recent. We were surprised there wasn't more evidence of avalanches from the rain.  We did not see any large avalanches, nor slides associated with the Feb 10th facet layer.  We did not venture into steep enough terrain to witness any wet loose instabilites, however I'm sure it is possible.  The snow was so sticky, wet and weak; it was not appealing to ride steeper terrain. Some south and western terrain was scoured to dirt by the wind or melted to the ground from warmth. North and eastern terrain maintained a decent snowpack (150-200cm) depth. 

Cornice collapse.