Gimme Shelter, And Sun

As a shortwave system exited the region, and cold high pressure again settles in, we went to the area around WMR to check on developing weak snow near the surface and lingering wind slabs. We traveled mostly at mid-elevations.

• The biggest take away for conditions today was that sheltered terrian holds soft, fun snow while terrain exposed to the recent northeast winds has hard, or punchy, wind-affected snow that's way less fun to ride.
• We tested many aspects by stomping on hollow wind drifts and the only sign of instability we found was some localized cracking. 
• We did not find any surface hoar. The snow surface, as well as layers in the recent storm snow above the mid-February crust, appear to be getting sugary. We took air and snow temperatures and confirmed that the change in temperature in the upper snowpack is plenty to drive the formation of weak facets. Please help FAC track weak snow near/at the surface before the return of wet weather next week.
• Though warmer than the past few days, we still got cold whenever we stopped moving unless we were in the sun, which felt warm, but didn't have any affect on the snow surface.

With no obvious signs of instability we felt comfortable skiing some steeper, sheltered terrain where we found boot-top, soft snow that was super fun.