Shadow

Skinning up this morning, we had relatively easy hand shears with planar results down 12-24", just above the underlying crust.  However, even with the planar shears, we only experienced minor cracking and were not able to get much to move stomping on steep rollovers. At upper elevations above 9000 feet, hand shears were moderate and not planar, the difference most likely attributed to cooler temps and perhaps less settlement. In general, it doesn't seem like the crust/new snow interface is a concern. If anything,  I'm more concerned with density breaks above the crust and in wind-loaded terrain. Some graupel was observed in the recent storm snow. Along the ridge getting to North Bowl, wind-pressed snow produced easy, shallow hand shears at a couple of density breaks in the top 14 inches. Sheltered northeast and east aspects above 8000 feet remained unconsolidated, although with very minimal sluffing even in steep, confined terrain.

We did not travel above 9800', where winds were noticeably stronger in exposed terrain. I expect wind slab development to be a little more advanced and more reactive at the upper reaches of our forecast zone. 

Low and mid elevations had a more cohesive slab due to warmer temps combined with wind enhancement. We experienced very minor cracking on a couple of steep southeast-facing rollovers around 7500 feet, but the overlying slab was sluggish and didn't really want to slide. Shallow, soft wind slabs were forming above 9500' along the ridge but had very minimal cracking. At times, winds were strong, and there was notable leeward loading, and wind affected snow further below the ridge than "normal."