Closed but not empty

A quick lap at WMR (closed) to see how recent snow and winds have affected the snowpack. We found:

• Fresh drifts and thin slabs of drifted snow on south and southwesterly slopes, deposited by easterly winds. The drifts were up to 18" thick. Stomping on these produced not cracks, but we did get short cracks when we stepped on thinner slabs (4F+ hardness) above soft snow. These slabs were at mid elevations. 
• 4-8" of fresh snow on sheltered slopes. This snow sits on a hard crust (3/21) below about 6000 feet on southerly and westerly slopes. In spots, there's a thin, friable crust a few inches above the hard crust.
• Upslope easterly winds have scoured and drifted snow on easterly slopes. These pose more of a riding hazard than skiing hazard. 
• In a drift below a cornice on an easterly slope, a snowpack test propagated on a layer of mixed forms about 40 cm below the snow surface and 10 cm above the 3/21 crust. The sliding surface was rough and the slab didn't move with much energy. 

While we were in familiar terrain inside a ski area boundary, we still carried avalanche rescue gear and rode one at a time on steep slopes