Flew the coop, the 2/23 surface hoar did.

Traveled up the west side of the Swan Range and over the crest in search of the surface hoar buried 2/23. No sign if it above 6000 feet east of the crest. What we did find:

• Remarkably widespread roller balls from the 2/28 sun and warming on steep south, southwest, and west facing slopes. Many of these originated as high as about 6900 feet. 
• Some D1-2 loose wet avalanches from the same sun and warming on similar aspects. Debris from these ran ~1000 vertical feet on continiously steep slopes (previously documented). 
• No rollers or loose wet avalanches on easterly slopes between 6 and ~7500 feet east of the crest. A few rollers on easterly slopes west of the crest (6-6500 ft). 
• A 1-3 cm thick sun crust on most steep, open slopes that open to direct sun. Northerly slopes, particularly low angled slopes, had dry snow at the surface above ~5500 feet. 
• Snow profiles on NE slopes at mid and upper elevations showed no distinct weak layers above the 2/1 crust (details in snpwpack and weather details tab).
• Winds increased during the afternoon, with some blowing snow at ridges and sometimes well below. We saw no drifts or freshly formed slabs. We did not investigate leeward slopes for old wind slabs, though we saw the partially blown in crown of a recent slide of drifted snow (N, 7000 ft).

With the 2/23 buried Surface hoar not present in pits and no signs of a persistent slab problem, we felt comfortable skiing short pitches up to 40 degrees on north through east slopes at mid elevations. On the west side of the crest, we used all our jedi powers to find dry, uncrusted snow.