January 22, 2012, Silver Basin

Arrived early PM at Crystal in heavy snow and wind. Skinned to the top of Quicksilver where we met a (skier) guide of a group on snowshoes who reported favorable conditions for skiing and avalanches. They had dug pits with easy fracturing, and Q2 shear. This seemed consistent with NWAC forecasting "High avalanche danger on lee slopes above 6000 feet and considerable elsewhere, becoming high above 5000 feet on lee terrain Sunday night." Very few tracks in the basin. Followed the guided groups tracks and found the pits that had been dug within sight of the top of the ridge. Snow was obviously more wind affected and cohesive on the upper ridge. Decided we wanted to find lower and lower angle terrain to ski. En route, triggered a small soft slab on a 30-35 degree, NE aspect. Lapped some lower angle trees in nice snow after that without further incident. Avalanche danger was definitely high when we left. Spooky with the sensitive surface slabs, the variety of recent layers, and the crust 6' down...