Weather
Scattered clouds accompanied strong to extreme winds with intense transport. Although it was super windy, the temp in the trees and at the trailhead was above freezing in the low 30s by mid-morning.
Snowpack
Due to the wind, coverage was spotty just about everywhere. 0-10cm of snow was present at the TH, and I found pockets of 80-90cm HS above tree line in loaded areas. At ~10.8k on a NW slope above tree line, the base of the snowpack consisted of 60cm of P-1F wind packed particles below a 4cm graupel layer with a 10-15cm pencil hard wind slab on top. No basal facets present. In my hand pits, I found the graupel layer and wind slab were fairly widespread, but the slab (and the snowpack) varied greatly in thickness. Solar faces below treeline were getting a bit crusty. There were very isolated pockets of 30cm+ deep graupel near and above tree line.