Hiked (less this time) and skinned to a max elevation of 6000' to look for a line that may have escaped the recent East wind event. A couple inches of low elevation snow increase to 5" at 4800' and a max of ~7" in sheltered terrain at 6000'. Quite a bit less than anticipated given the abundant snowfall recorded at Noisy. All manner of wind affected snow was encountered ranging from impenetrable scour to a variety of thicknesses of unsupportive windboard ranging from a thin crust to about 2" thick. The worst of it was found on SW to W aspects but NW aspects were also affected especially in open terrain. Ski and boot penetration was low given the lower snow totals and buried crusts. Dug a pit below a ridge on a NW aspect finding low density surface faceting in the upper 7 inches and a layer of weak, sugary facets about 20cm from the surface. A CT16 failure in this facet layer was not clean and more of a smush than a fracture. Received a ECTX on a subsequent test. Winds were East and moderate w/ strong gusts in the early morning relaxing a bit by noon. Very little snow being transported. Generally clear and sunny. The snow looked like it was poised to moisten up a bit given the high sun angle but cold temps and wind kept it dry. Good skiing was found only in a med-tight trees on a NW aspect. Venturing out into more open terrain was quickly punished.
