Clear and cold, thankfully not too windy but when we did get some wind it was very chilly. At the ridgeline there was enough wind to transport snow but otherwise we didn't see much wind loading.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Goldpan
Traveled up Bertha Creek to goldpan.
Weather
Snow surface
There was about 10 cm of new snow on top of 10 cm of melt freeze crust at the surface. We found that the crust was variable and thinner at lower elevations. With the new snow covering the ice it was a little harder to see where the crust would be breakable and where it would be very firm.
Snowpack
Dug a few pits along the way at 2600' and 3400'. At 2600' on a W aspect we found the facets buried 70cm and 20cm thick above the Halloween crust. The layer was not reactive in our ECT and it was one finger harness throughout the layer. At 3400' we found no evidence of a faceted weak layer. The snowpack was very strong overall and there were a few notable layers of melt freeze in the upper 50 cm that were likely formed during the recent warm temps and rain.
Below treeline we found the crust was less than 0.5 cm thick
In some areas we saw evidence of widespread wind effected snow and a few small crowns, but they were filled in so might have been from a few days ago.
There was a fair amount of natural dry loose avalanche activity in steeper terrain and the debris was running far because of the icy bed surface.
At higher elevations the crust was thicker and more supportable.