This cowboy ain't going for a ride today.

Greetings from KC hut. Our group headed out for a walk from the hut, looking for good tree skiing in consideration of low vis conditions. We dug a pit on Russet Ridge to assess stability. The slope was 32 degrees, SE aspect. Snowpack was 110cm deep at this location, treeline. fist for 50cm, followed by a wet, crusty, rounded layer all the way to the ground. Tests: 
 CT, easy (4 taps), sudden planar failure on storm layer 25cm down. ECT hard (27 taps), propagating, sudden planar failure on crust layer 50cm down. Concerned with these results, we backed off to ski mellower trees on cowboy ridge. We happily rode powder laps from 2000m to 1800m but encountered very heavy powder conditions below that. ;;; The wind is howling outside the hut, while we are sleeping tightly tucked. Dreaming of sweet powder turns, before the freezing levels burns.