Crystal Ridge

<p>Poked around a bit at treeline on Crystal Ridge. The alpine looked pretty wind hammered so we decided to stay in sheltered zones in the trees. Pretty consistent temps all day but at mid-day the winds shifted from SW light to SE-E moderate with strong gusts and light snow. Dug a quick pit around 2400m, SW aspect. Height of snow 120cm with the upper half composed of a complex mix of sun/temp crusts, buried surface hoar and stiff wind slab. Below that it's the usual facets to ground. Expect a mostly faceted snowpack in rocky outcrop areas and cold air drainages. Compression tests showed a hard (21 tap) sudden collapse down 30 on a buried surface hoar. Surprisingly, we only had a one whumph through the day vs. the continuous settlements from last weekend. Ski quality was good if you kept to the shaded trees and avoided outcrops or areas of obvious sun crust. Counted 20 vehicles in the crowfoot pullout - where are the MINS folks?! Let us know what you're seeing out there! -Kevin</p>