Upper Pine Creek

I went out with friends to celebrate the incredible weather we have had over the past few weeks! We went for a longer walk to the north-facing terrain around Royce Lakes and found favorable conditions for skiing and efficient travel.

• Most slopes below treeline hold a burly (10 cm+) supportable melt-freeze near the surface. Isolated north-facing pockets lack the crust and consist of loose facets with minimal structure. 
• On solar slopes at all elevations, our dusting of new snow from Friday has either blown away or was cooked off yesterday. Penitentes and texture rule the surface.
• Polar slopes at all elevations had a trace to 5cm of snow left over from Friday. With minimal totals, I did not find this snow to have changed much in our snowpack. It did, however, make slippery alpine surfaces more grippy for skinning. This dusting of snow was the culprit in a dry loose avalanche we found on north-facing terrain BTL.
• Coverage in the Pine Creek area is generally on the low end. Below 10200', we dealt with lots of down trees and open water. As we moved closer to Royce Lakes, coverage generally improved, and the snowpack's overall structure more closely resembled that in the Mammoth-to-June areas. I found the 1/1 crust down ~80cm on north-facing terrain around 12800'.
•  We found all the surfaces today. Near and above treeline, weak faceted snow dominates northerly slopes. 

I found no signs of instability. Small sluffs in steep terrain were worth considering, but variable surfaces kept them from running far.