No Snow for Old Men

Went for a walk today in hopes the surface would warm and soften.... no dice. Our trip resulted in a surface inventory of the Shames backcountry. 5-8cm thick rain crust to 1200m (top of T), wet snowball making snow below this. 1200 to 1300m south facing slopes were exciting as our pole baskets actually broke through the crust, hopes were high the dome at 1400m was skiable. 1250m saw 3ish cm rain crust over 10 cm of loose dry snow with a rain crust then a wet snowpack below it. 1340m saw a dry snowpack but 5 - 6 rain crusts in the top 50cm. loose dry snow down 17-22cm that progressively collapsed (moderate taps) under a rain crust on my attempt at a compression test. Dry snow rests between the above rain crusts (see the pic). Alpine surface mini features were filling in with the morning's snow. The best turns were from the dome down to the skin track (1400 to 1200m) on a smooth and a slightly dusted edgeable crust. Below 1200m was near survival skiing progressing to proper survival skiing until we hit the cat track back to the lodge. Overall Impression: It will be interesting to see how the various crust sandwiches evolve/facet with the coming cooler temperatures and the moist snow below and/or any new snow above. I hear the mountain biking is still good....