February 17, 2013, Heather Ridge

First time up Heather Ridge today with Dan and Chief and we had some great stable snow.  We dropped into some North facing slopes above Skyline lake and made our way down through the cliff bands with another party (splitboarder, telemarker and skier). 

The snow on that northface was really excellent especially near the summit (1+ft).  The bottom half of the run had less snow with about 6 inches on top of an old crust, which still made for some excellent turns.  There were a few chutes at the top we eyed but they looked pretty wind loaded but may be good to go tomorrow.

Next, we headed across the valley to Tye Peak.  From the top of Tye we took two laps on the South east slopes which had about 8 in of good snow on an old crust.  Then we made our way back up to the top of Heather ridge but ended up about a mile west of the ski area.   The snow was stable at the top so we headed down some slopes that look pretty prone to wet slides.  Would not want to be there when sun affected snow is an issue.  Down through some debris about a week old to a logging road and a short skin back to the parking lot ended the day.

All and all a pretty good day out walking the dog.  Should be just as good tomorrow.