Firm without the sun

Toured to 7000' in the northern Whitefish Range to ski steeper terrain with the stability and hopes of sun to soften the crust. 

• No signs of avalanche danger were seen.
• Intermittent graupel fell throughout the day. 1 inch of new snow when we arrived, and two inches as we were leaving. 
• Without the sun, things stayed firm and we chose a NE facing line that looked manageable but ended up being a little steeper and tougher to navigate than expected. 
• The choke was runnelled out and not skiable so we rappelled and downclimbed.
• Biggest takeaway was to match terrain choices to conditions. The lack of sun should've pushed us to more mellow terrain.