Quick report
On the Tallac ascent this morning, solar slopes held a supportable melt-freeze crust, while the shady side of the ridge had a thin melt-freeze crust down low, and faceted, soft surface snow higher up. Temps were near freezing, sunshine was strong, but the only surprise was moderate to strong southwest winds, which I felt in most exposed locations. These weren't transporting any snow, but made it feel quite a bit colder than the air temperature. The North Bowl was quite wind hammered, with wind board and some sastrugi, but in some places the wind board has started to facet, making the descent manageable. The hanging snowfield was much less wind affected, and instead held soft, faceted surface snow, which created excellent skiing. Once out onto the sun exposed apron, melt-freeze conditions were again present, but on this more northeast facing slope, the crust was still firm at about 11:00 am. I then crossed over to the south side of the ridge, and skied excellent corn on a SE aspect from about 8600' down to 7700'. Below 7700', there was several inches of wet surface snow, and some rollerballing off of my turns, but skiing was still decent. Once below about 7000' on this solar aspect, the snow became much less supportable. I then crossed back over to the NE side of the ridge, and on the lower angle exit back along the skin track, much of the snow was still quite firm. Of note, the Spring Creek road is fully melted out, but the banks along the sides provide for excellent travel along snow on both the approach and exit.