Approached from south facing aspect, Snow was wet and stuck to our skins the whole way up. Saw roller balls until about 6300 feet then noted a thin surface crust the rest of the way to 6900'. High winds were cross loading snow onto south facing slopes. Wind directions were shifting and weather cooling as we were ready to descend, about noon.
Isolated column pit at approximately 6800' NE facing, snow depth 270 cm. Noted 3 faceted layers. Small movement at ECT 11 without propagation on the January crust. Pulled column out on a weak layer at approx 120 cm, the faceted layer between the January crust and this deeper layer did not react.
Descended on a N/NE facing aspect. No signs of instability until about 5500 feet when the snow became saturated and we noted loose/wet with roller balls. Higher elevation skiing (above 5500') was good quality on this north facing aspect.
currently raining at 3900'.
