Exploratory walk, good snowpack with a weird crust

glenn.folkes , Sunday 12th January, 2025 9:15PM

Went for a bit of a wander today to check out some new areas. Down low the snow looked good, above about 1450m there was a thin melt freeze layer, not sure if it was solar effect or if it had warmed up since the last storm on Friday. Crust got worse as we got higher, lots of wind effect fromthe recent storm. However snowpack was well bonded and consolidated, no sign of a storm slab really. Felt a crust layer about 2 feet down (at 1700m) with my pole, but no signs of instability at all. Crusy was thing enough that it broke easily while we were skiing. Rode one lap which was short but fun.