Quick report
We toured Galena Peak on a short 3-hour excursion starting at 8 am. Having explored the same area the day before, we could compare the changes in conditions overnight. What was low-density dry powder yesterday had a zipper crust on almost every aspect and elevation encountered this morning, likely due to the morning fog. I dug a couple of hasty pits on a NE aspect along a 30-degree slope. The top 25-30cm had a Q3 shear from the older snow interface. Yesterday, wind-transported snow was observed from strong gusts, but due to the zipper crust, much less snow was being transported this morning. One peculiar observation was that my old pee break now formed a small column, indicating how much snow had been stripped off the ridge in an 18-hour period which was about 20 cm. No signs of Overall, we did 3 laps in slightly different NE aspects attempting to find snow without the crust but were unsuccessful. When we returned to the car, no precipitation had fallen yet, and winds were beginning to pick up.