Quick report
Did some hasty pits on steep NW facing road cuts. Nothing even close to reactive. Jumped on several NW and W facing slopes of 38 to 40 degrees. Got a small sluff on a 40 degree rollover. At 8,700 feet north facing found total depth of 180 to 185 cm. Very firm crust 40 cm from ground (140 to 145 cm down), weak layer from ground to 30 cm. Loads of three foot deep sled trenches on steep slopes, saw no evidence of anything moving other than the tiny sluff on our 40 degree slope.
Snowpack
The snow in the morning is as good as it gets. A bunch of fresh over a very supportable base. Single-digit overnight low made for some big feathers that were just a blast to ski. Best snow of the year hands down. Really, you can't ask for more. Alas, the strong afternoon sun cooked south-facing slopes. By 3 P.M., skinning across a south-facing created rollerballs at 8,600 feet. Snow that had been in the sun for hours already was starting to crust up as it passed into the shadows cast by large evergreens. I will expect everything south facing to be crusted in the morning.