Raven's Ridge

We toured up Raven's Ridge from the Manitoba parking area. Temps were single digits at the valley floor but gradually increased as we ascended. We encountered a stout breakable crust until roughly 2300' where it transitioned to dry snow. As we gained the ridge, the surface became much more wind affected and quite firm. Across the valley to the West, Colorado and Fresno were showing evidence of significant wind events. Our group observed a small shooting crack on this wind slab as we got closer to the ridge. 

We dug pits at 2500' on a NW aspect. There were facets under a thin crust on the surface. Where there was wind blown snow over this crust, we saw the snow below the crust slide relatively easily. In the pits we identified 3 weak layers of buried surface hoar, but the layers were stubborn and the results were inconclusive. The snowpack was dry all the way to the ground and facets were growing at the bottom of the snowpack. With these weak layers and plenty of evidence of strong winds in mind, we stuck to low angle skiing to avoid triggering any large avalanches on these buried weak layers.