Collapse in beehive

Collapse in beehive

Date
Activity
Skiing

Had a pretty interesting collapse this afternoon while touring up the east ridge of Beehive. The slope I was on I measured at 30° at the highest, was below treeline but in a small meadow. The surface had melted and refroze. As I was touring across the small slope stomping to the to break the surface to set a better skin track the whole piece broke (150' wide by 50' down) together and moved down slope about 6". I quickly dug a little bit where it broke from the rest of the slope and it seamed to break near the ground, ~ 50cm and with the naked eye I could see large depth hore crystals and little to no rounding.

While I do think it was simply a collapse I was very surprised this happened and the way this whole piece moved on such a low angle slope. I hadn't seen something like this before. Guess it lines up with just how weird this season has been. 

~8560' west facing

45.31868, -111.38395

Region
Northern Madison
Location (from list)
Beehive Basin
Observer Name
Nelson VanTassel