Today we rode out at Seaton. Two very different experiences depending on aspect skied. Weather cloudy with some sunny breaks. Ridgetop winds were minimal >10km/h - it was refreshing not to to have to rush our transitions.
Our first lap we skied up the SE side of the basin. We observed about a 1cm solar crust with about 15cm of ski penetration.
We were interested in finding the early Feb hoar frost so we dug a pit at 1550m. Snow depth was 3+ meters. That early feb faceted layer was about 125cm down with 5cm of freshi on top.
We conducted an ECT with no results. Overall the the snowpack is well consolidated until the depth hoar layer. This seems to jive with persistent slab problem in the reported in the bulletin.
Our second lap we ventured over to Seaton ridge where the riding conditions were excellent. We skied just under the ridge - a north aspect. No solar crust observed here. Some wind deposition, but we didn't experience any slabbiness. Overall, nice conditions.