Above the rain and below the wind

New snow, warm temperatures and wind = avalanche hazard going ⬆️. We spent the day in the Little Sand area where we found 20cm of new storm snow over a supportive crust from a recent freezing rain event. There was no visibility into the alpine so we stuck to a treeline ridge feature where there was less wind and no exposure to avalanche slopes above us. As we toured up there was no whumpfing or shooting cracks, and tested a few small rolls with no reaction. It was snowing above 1500m and heavy at times. Snow depths at 2000m were 140-160 with the Dec 8 melt freeze crust down 90 cm. We skied a few very enjoyable 30 degree angle lines off the ridge.