Weather
Winds were blowing moderately from the southwest and were at a good speed to actively load start zones.
Snowpack
Below treeline on south and southeast aspects the snow depth varied from about 1 meter to 1.5 meters. There was a stout crust under about 30cm of soft new and wind-drifted snow from earlier in the week. Skinning in steep terrain was tricky as the snow was poorly bonded to the surface below. This crust disappeared as soon as I tilted to east aspect. As I entered Near treeline, there were many very sensitive wind-drifted pillows that would easily break and slide on northeast, east and southeast aspects. As I worked higher in this elevation band, these pillows became more stubborn as the slab thickened. In a snow profile, these slabs were failing easily in tests on a layer of defragmenting particles, and maybe a few facets were mixed in. This layer was about 30cm down so may give a good head start to avalanche size and sensitivity this weekend.