Quick report
First, heartfelt condolences to the NWAC team and everyone who knew Matt Primomo. Today's long quiet tour gave a lot of time for reflection about this morning's unexpected and sad news. Went for a long ramble around the Pass -- today's conditions weren't the best, but they exceeded expectations and were well-suited to moving quickly through terrain. Solar slopes held the well-advertised crust, but it seemed to have formed in a mid-afternoon; careful contemplation of where shadows would've fallen allowed for surprisingly good turns even in partially-open timber. Polar slopes held good snow wherever tree-bombs hadn't textured the surface -- keep it protected, open-to-sky, and shady when hunting for soft snow. At 5k on solar slopes, the crust had a crunchy texture, as if it had begun to decompose into facets. Light was often flat today, but no large surface-hoar stood out. On the lakes, it was present but seemed to have laid flat. The first flakes that fell arrived as small (1mm) rimed fragments, but precipitation became all graupel, some as large as 3mm and laid down at least 2cm by mid-day. When skiing, graupel-sluffs ran moderately-far. Look for small thin windslab in unexpected places -- I found tiny patches on windward slopes and I'm sure the Adventure Zone had windslab in spots in the start-zones. Winds were light, occasionally gusting moderate, but not enough to completely flush out the tree-bombs. Precip continued through much of the day, becoming 70% rain at the base of Hyak, but remaining flakes at mid-height in the southern resorts. No major instability observed when skiing. The numerous parties in the Adventure Zone seemed excited to be there, but not elated. Shouts within parties seemed to have notes of caution. Very glad to hear parties on both 2-7 and 3-7 today. Lots of radios on packs today, but not everyone was dialed in to the community channels.