Not dads tour

Lovely tour out of WMR today trying to make lemonade out of the lemons presented in the avalanche and weather conditions today. Skied on a variety of aspects between 5200' and 6600' and kept our slope angles below 35 degrees all day.

• We found widespread freshly-formed upside-down storm slabs ~10cm thick that easily popped-out in hand pits above the pre-storm snow surface and produced frequent localized cracking (< 1m from ski) while skinning and skiing
• The pre-storm snow surface was a defined 2cm crust with preserved surface hoar above on N aspects and a breaking-down crust on southern aspects (sunshine/warm temps?)
• The deeper buried surface hoar was easily found ~50cm below the surface at 5900' and left clean shears in quick hand pits (but we never officially tested it)
• Variable weather that was generally obscurred, below but near freezing temps, with S-1 to S2 snowfall/graupeling and light S winds along the ridgetops
• No avalanches, collapses or shooting cracks observed (but visibility was lack-luster all day)

The skiing was decent, especially if you like that PNW-style cream cheese thick powder!