Thank you, big fluffy friends

I returned to the other side of the river to observe how the building ridge of high pressure was affecting the surface snowpack.

• Cold overnight air temperatures, cool daytime air temperatures, light winds, and partly cloudy skies limited warming of the surface snow and wet loose avalanche activity. 
• The surface snow stayed cold and dry on sunny aspects up to my high point of 5500'.
• Several small wet loose slides were observed between 5000' - 6000'. These were triggered by warming around trees and rock outcroppings. A number of baseball size pieces of rime were loosened by warming and traveled long distances down avalanche paths. These did not entrain snow but did add an artistic flair to the snow surface.