Purple Ridge

It felt like an April powder day with the mild temperatures and atypical storm snow density.  Signs of instability were fewer than expected while we toured. We suspect this was due to the deeper snowpack and the influence of the extreme wind event earlier in December, causing the December weak layer to produce variable feedback in this fairly open, wind-impacted terrain. We traveled on lower-angle ridges and didn't enter steep northeasterly facing avalanche terrain. 

Collapses occurred occasionally with heavy jumps or after several people crossed the slope.

The snowpack started to make some noise as we gained elevation above ~10,400, and the Christmas Crust thinned on NE-facing slopes. At 10,600ft, the HS was 125 on a NE-facing slope. 36hr storm totals were 25 to 30cm of heavy, thick snow. An ECT at this location produced a moderate propagating result below the Xmas crust, failing in 1mm-1.5mm rounding faceted grains that were 4F-. At lower elevations, the snowpack remained quiet, and the storm interface was the primary layer of concern. 

This snowpack was deeper than other areas down valley, and comparatively, the weak layers were not as weak, and the thicker slabs made persistent slab avalanche problems feel more stubborn. We traveled on lower-angle ridges and didn't enter steep northeasterly facing avalanche terrain.