Quick report
Skied both a S and N facing slope above Crater Lake today, with very different surfaces. I descended the S facing slope from 9500-8500’ around 1 pm, and found generally about 1-2” of sun softened snow on a supportable base. On lower angle slopes with similar aspect, it was only about .5” of soft snow. I did not set off even any rollerballs or pinwheels, and there was no loose wet activity. The skiing was quite enjoyable. I then skinned back up, and descended a N facing slope around 3 pm. From 10k down to about 9500 where the slope turned more NE, it was mostly firm, but faceted surface snow, which was edgeable and consistent. There was some wind texture and a few very firm sections as well. I then dropped into the main Crater Lake bowl on a ENE aspect, that had gone into the shade. I assumed the sun had been at an oblique enough of an angle to not transform the slope yet, but I was very wrong. It had clearly softened then refrozen, and was very firm. In some places, the crust was breakable, but in the majority of places on the slope, it was not. I then traversed over to a true NE aspect and found the same thing. These conditions held from 9400’ down to 8500’. The summer road on the exit was a mix of firm and soft surfaces, but I found no areas with sloppy, unsupportable snow today, despite very warm temps.