Quick report
Toured up Brackett Creek road to Upper Playground, then went up the main Texas Meadows ridge to the 7.4K high point. Did not dig any pits and did not see any recent avalanche activity. Observed active wind transport throughout the day, especially along the Texas Meadows ridgeline where it was blowing quite strongly out of the SW, scouring not only the S but upper parts of the N side of the ridge. The Playground was not spared either, with numerous wind slabs of up to a foot or more thick appearing on top of the old crust. Other notes: overall snow coverage was very, very thin initially, improving the deeper into the range one gets. The trend was not purely elevation-dependent: both coverage and skiing quality were significantly better in the Playground vs. Texas Meadows, despite a similar elevation range and aspect.