Traveled up north facing basin in search of good snow. Temperatures heated up fairly quickly by midday. Observed roller balls on East-s-West aspects, also crusts on said aspects, which became mushy by afternoon. Clear views allowed us to see more recent avalanche activity, mostly south facing (path 1163, peak 7854 Essex creek) We skied NW- NE terrain 30-40 degrees. Dug a pit @ 6800 on NE ectn 14 25cm, ectn 30 65cm down on what looked to be graupel/ facet mix. Did PST on the this layer 65 cm and ran the saw through entire block. Identified Jan 13th crust/ SH layer 140 cms in the snowpack. Snow felt stable on aspects we skied.
