November 18, Heliotrope Ridge

Like a whole bunch of other people, a group of us headed up to heliotrope in search of a few turns. Was not disappointed by the conditions.

We ran into a group of skiers on the way down, who all seemed pretty bummed about the conditions they found on the ridge. We heard that the snow was a little unstable (I am guessing this was the group that set off the slide?), so we were staying cautious.

However, we did not see any signs of a fracture on our way up the ridge, likely due to the wind transporting snow rapidly. We ended up turning back fairly quick because the wind on the ridge made it not worth continuing. We were also concerned about wind loading affecting stability of the snowpack.

Fortunately, contrary to what the other groups found, the snowpack was solid, and the wind was filling  in the ridge nicely. After our first lap, we decided to kick in a bootpack rather than transition to skins again, and ended up taking two more laps on the face just above the tree line and couldn't be happier. Great snow, fun turns, and a beautiful hike (once you were out off the ridge and out of the wind).