Quick report
Light snow fell during the day and amounted to a few cm's by the end. It was apparent that warm temperatures have been starting to change the snowpack above about 6,000ft with refrozen tree drip areas, slightly moist snow, and a thin zipper crust beneath about 5cm of snow from overnight. Below that inversion line the snow was dry and held better quality riding.
Test results from a profile at 6,400ft on an east aspect gave PST 25/100 (end), and CTH, SC 90cm down on the Solstice crust complex. Underfoot, the snowpack felt stable, but unfortunately this layer is keeping us out of larger terrain for the time being.
Snowpack
HS ranged from 100-150cm in the area, and we could feel the Solstice crust near the base with probing on a variety of slopes. Snow surfaces became slightly moist above about 6,000ft, and stayed cooler below.
A profile site at 6,400ft showed an HS of 145cm. About 5cm of new snow had fallen since yesterday, and sat over a very thin eggshell crust from a light rain event. There had been 25cm of new snow since 1/16. This interface was 2-3mm rounding surface hoar. Tilt tests could produce clean failures after a number of taps.
90cm down was the Solstice crust complex which showed 1-3mm faceted melt forms (4F+) over a more well defined, translucent K- crust. Test results were CTH SC, and PST 25/100 (End), above this crust.