Quick report
N-ish terrain, 7800-8600’ Travel was easy both walking the trail and traversing around the lake on skis. Bushwhacking was not easy and not recommended. In general, north-facing open slopes above the lake were decent travel and permitted a few delicate turns. I found large surface hoar in the meadows and near surface facets in some places but it wasn't very developed. Melt freeze crusts were variable, but thin, soft, and breakable. I found these in lower elevations with sun exposure and under the trees by the lake where the cover blocked evening longwave radiation. This had a notable impact helping the trail melt out as the day progressed. Generally the snowpack was rightside up and soft (F-4F, 0.5mm-1.0mm DF). On the way out, midday warmth caused notable melting of surfaces in sunny areas and shaded areas seemed pretty unchanged. Snow height around the lake was 25-35 cm. When traversing around the lake, I found stiff snow (1F) and significant wind texture, but no real change in snow height. There was no windloading of features but the change in hardness got my attention. The depth of wind-affected snow was average 5-13cm and not continuous enough to do anything except break into dinner plates at my feet. The snow beneath it was soft decomposing fragments. I saw several small debris piles below the cliffs up the valley from the lake, D1. There could have been a thin, small crownline in one of the hanging snow pockets in the middle of the face or it could have been sluffing. The aprons below the cliffs looked fuller than other terrain. I suspect they also hold old snow from before November, since that type of terrain was holding snow before these last storms. Weather - The car said 28F at 6am and 39F at 1230pm. Sunny all day. Winds calm with a couple short-lived light spells from S-SW. There was some light blowing snow at ridgeline.