Heliotrope Ridge

We didn't see wet loose avalanches but other parts of West North did see a few. Wind-drifted snow was easy to find, but we just couldn't find a real wind slab even when prodding steep wind-loaded terrain just below upper elevation ridgelines. Low elevations have nearly no snow, and the transition from minimal snow on the ground to consistent snow cover is abrupt.

Up to 15cm of new snow over the Early February crust with 2cm at 5000', increasing in depth with elevation gain. Drifts to 60cm in isolated locations but varying reactivity. The most reactivity was found where P+ hard wind slabs sat over 1F snow. The crust is firm and well-frozen at both mid and upper elevations. Below the crust, the snowpack is a matrix of moist melt form and rounded grain layers for the next 100-150cm. At mid-elevations, this equals rain-affected snow down to the ground. At upper elevations, there may be dry snow lower in the snowpack, but suspect there are no layers of concern after the significant loading events of the past two weeks.