We traveled up toward the traditional East Ridge skin tack from the railroad/Fielding trail marker to avoid crossing private property. We broke trail through light snow sinking approximately 10-20 cm. Once on the ridge we noticed signs of the Northeastern wind that eroded some of the typical cornice development normally seen on the ridge approach as well as isolated pockets where the wind had exposed a solid crust.
The exposed east face below the summit of 6996 was wind affected but skiable. The top 20 cm was a soft wind slab that lacked cohesion. Some minor cracking and sluffing of this layer was most noticeable on switchbacks or long ski cuts.
