Skiing the sandbox

Day off explore on the west side of the Swan Range. 

Basic near-surface snowpack structure is 2-8" of recent snow over the 1/13 crust. However, both those components vary with elevation.

• Below about 5000 ft, the 1/13 crust is degrading and about 1 Finger hard. Can sometimes break throughwhile traversing on skis. The ~4" of recent snow is faceting, as is the snow below the crust. No widespread surface hoar developing at these elevations. 
• At mid elevations (~5-6500), the crust is hard (Pencil to Knife) and about 5 cm thick. It feels like formica.There's about 6-8" of recent snow above the crust; it's mostly cohesionless because it's faceting, especially below ~6000 feet, where skiing feels like making turns in a sandbox. Widespread surface hoar on open slopes. 
• The crust is similarly hard on upper-elevation, windward slopes. Near the crest of the range, the amount and hardness of the snow above the crust varies. Where funneled by terrain, upslope winds have scoured away all the recent snow, leaving a rimed, rough crust that is downright scary in steep terrain. In more sheltered terrain, there's 3-5" of wind-pressed, 4-Finger hard snow above the crust that is downright delightful. Good luck telling one from the other in the fog. In some spots, an inch or two of cohesionless snow camoflages the crust. 
• We saw no cracking or other signs of instability, though we didn't travel on leeward terrain.

Drop a stiff slab over the current near-surface snowpack, and I wouldn't go near most of the terrain we were in today. Especially mid-elevations where the sandpile-over-formica structure exists.