Marmot

Made a trip up Marmot to the weather station and encountered challenging and firm conditions. On the ascent, willows, facets, and punchy breakable crusts slowed progress to a crawl. Once I gained the mid rib at about 3500' I began bootpacking. On the descent, I tried to stick to wind-blown ribbons, which kept me in the gullies and small lee terrain features.

Travel is challenging, with just a thin cover or bare ground exposed in many locations. Where there is snow, conditions are variable. On mid-elevation and lower-angle slopes, you can find punchy facets and thin, breakable crusts. As you gain elevation, the slabs become much firmer and thicker, and are generally isolated to gullies and lee-side terrain features. 

• Everywhere I looked, slabs are sitting on top of faceted snow. On those mid-elevation and lower-angle slopes where I was encountering breakable crust, 1-2 feet of well-developed faceted snow is protected below. On steeper upper-elevation slopes, including those just below the ridgeline, I found 1-2ft thick, knife-hard slabs with faceted snow still hiding below.
• In gullies, couloirs, and tight features where the slabs are bound in place by the terrain, the facets are well bridged, and it will be harder to trigger a slide. In more broad, open terrain where the slabs don't have anything holding them in place, it will still be possible to trigger a small slide. In locations where the slabs are thinner and weaker, breakable conditions make travel challenging and inconsistent.

The ribbons of snow I skied were bulletproof and only occasionally breakable at their edges. While not icy, they are neither quite "chalky" yet. Turns were edgable, but on steeper slopes, you'd be well informed to consider the consequences of a fall and a long slide. 

Encountered scoured surfaces, weak facets, and intermittent wind slabs varying in depth and hardness from 1-2 ft of knife-hard boilerplate, to 2-6 inches of 1 finger hard breakable crusts. All of these slabs are sitting on a variety of faceted snow. The thickest, firmest slabs are welded into gullies and couloirs, while broader or lower-angle slopes hold thinner, breakable crusts and intermittent slabs.