Crushing crystals at Ashman

Today we went to Ashman Ridge. We found 15 cm of cold dry snow on all aspects at the surface. On shady aspects, this snow overlies a previously wind affected surface. On steep, sunny slopes, this snow overlies a thin sun crust. We saw one size 1 wind slab avalanche from ridgecrest on a northeast facing slope in the alpine. We also saw one new size 1.5 loose dry avalanche which ran about 200 m from a steep, alpine feature. We had partly cloudy conditions, with moderate southwesterly winds at ridgecrest transporting some snow. We used a small convex feature at 1600 m which faces north as a test slope. We were able to produce some cracking about 20 cm deep right on the steep rollover. Lower in the slope and on less steep slopes we just found good skiing! We travelled on a ridge into the alpine, stopping when the snow became wind affected, and enjoyed great turns. We avoided overhead hazard from large cornices.