Our party skied between Essex and the Continental Divide today, on the S side of the highway. We found about 5 cm of this week's new snow along the road, and toured up to 7700'. We found the rain crust at 6400' but didn't try to look for it any higher. Skied glorious soft and smooth snow on a West face. Despite the sunshine the day felt cooler than expected given the light but fairly consistent breeze- never strong enough to transport snow. Surprised by how well preserved this week's snow was, even up high. At the end of the day there were rollerballs from trees shedding, around 6200' and below. I imagine lower S and W faces will have a crust tomorrow after the warmup... before it warms up again.
