Quick report
8 am, 30 degrees F, clear skies with a thin high cloud cover, light wind from the SW. On the way up from Dutchman all the snow right up until the base of Ball there was evidence of a melt freeze cycle with all aspects and elevations showing a hard thick crust over fresh unconsolidated snow. Ball itself appeared to have avoided the hard crust melt layer of the lower elevations. Dug a quick pit at 7600' on a 30 degree east facing slope. Found an upside down snowpack. A 10 cm 2-3 finger hard layer of surface snow sitting a on thin ice layer. Below the ice layer was a fist hard layer of 120 cm of cold unconsolidated snow. Shovel test showed a planar fracture with very little effort at the interface of the surface snow and the thin ice layer. Stuck to 30 degree slopes with no terrain traps. Riding and skinning showed no signs of snow failure, whomping, or shooting cracks. Firm 10 cm surface snow was uniform and well bonded enough to support riding but the lack of cohesion in the lower layers were of concern.
Avalanche
Moon Mountain and the North Bowl of Ball Butte had evidence of D1 natural release avalanches. Appeared to be from several days prior during the last storm cycle.