Dust on crust to blower

Afternoon jaunt to a wind-protected area of the northern Flathead Range.

• Observed no obvious signs of instability (no cracking, collapsing, or recent avalanche activity). Visibility was ok, but hard to see ridges across the drainage because of residual clouds and wind loading :)....wind loading observed around ridges.
• 4-6 inches of new snow sits atop a crust below 5000 feet. This sluffed easily at lower elevations but was harmeless and also made for less than ideal sidehill skinning.
• Snow depth above this crust increased to about 14 inches around 5500-6000 feet. 
• This location is mostly protected from the wind, but is occassionally susceptible to wind slab formation at middle elevations with N or E wind. Today, however, there was no wind slab formation at any elevation at this location.