Quick report
We went for a tour into Middle Basin yesterday afternoon in hopes to ski off Middle Peak. The weather was cold, sunny, and beautiful all day. Snow coverage has dramatically improved on all aspects since my last ski up there on Friday. Winds were mostly calm with the occasional light winds out of the W-NW, but not enough to witness any snow transport. New snow depths ranged from 4 inches in the flats on the Beehive side and up to 6-8 inches in Middle Basin. We dug and performed an ECT on an east-facing slope before skiing into Middle Basin, and to our surprise, results were unremarkable (ECTX). Given this information and a lack of any other red flags throughout the day, we felt comfortable skiing Middle Peak and the Buttcrack Chute. I performed a quick hand shear below the Buttcrack Chute prior to our ascent that indicated that the snow had yet to consolidate into a slab. Southern aspects had a firm crust underneath that supported the new snow quite well. It sounds like increasing winds last night may have changed the story up there for today. Overall a fantastic day!