Quick report
we skied from 9250 down to 8450 elev. in old-growth forest, mostly 30 degrees or less ... new snow generally 12 inches or less ... wind slab locally within 100 vertical feet of the ridgeline ... wind slab showed no cracking no whumping ... below 9200, snowpack comprised soft snow 1-3 feet thick sitting upon several cm of junky faceted(?), poorly consolidated ice crystals ... i performed some hand shears at several locations, and was able to easily cause (fist-hard) columns to fail atop the basal snow ... the snowpack below 9200 ft is quite soft and there is no cracking nor any significant slab formation ... good powder skiing down to 8450 ft, where the snowpack is about 12 inches ... the easy(ish) hand shears atop the basal facets(?) were a little spooky ... i think the soft overlying snow is saving the day ... imo, the snowpack lacks significant cohesion at the moment ... at the location where we skied ...