Ruby Peak

We traveled on southerly aspects to 12,400 feet and did not observe signs of instability.  The facets above the meltdown crust were not present on this particular feature, but this weak layer appears to be hit or miss across the landscape.  We avoided wind-drifted features and favored lightly scoured slopes where recent storm totals ranged from 12 to 16 inches.  Snow surfaces on south slightly moistened today, and when the sun makes a full return wet loose avalanche problems will return.

A few small undocumented avalanches for the storm around 4/1. We triggered two very small, moist loose avalanches on steep sunny features.

We dug a handful of test profiles on south-to-southwest features near and above treeline with no results on the meltdown crust. A few pits showed non-propagating results within the storm snow, but no major concerns were found. The places in this terrain we investigated lacked facets above the meltdown crust.  The snow surface moistened from the morning sun, but cloud cover arrived before loose avalanche activity became an issue.  

We dug a hole on a below treeline slope facing west to northwest and found meltwater drained through the entire snowpack during last week's warmup.  We looked for facets at the meltdown interface and found some faceting but not as worrisome as other locations.