How do you what it?  facets on facets? suncrusts on facets? windcrusts to shallow windslab on facets? hard slabs on facets? dirt on facets? no snow at all, just dirt? All are readily available and convieniently located with an arms reach.  

Last "snowstorm (Friday last week) left a veneer of graupel that would like to join the facets, but so far just rolls around on the surface.

the good news:We found good skiing in the north facing sheltered areas in 14"-18" of "loud powda" , get around to the west too far, suncrust appears, worsening the more south, or west, or even east you get.  In more open areas wind crust quickly thickens to get more interesting, but, again, anywhere other than the most sheltered areas, things change quickly and you have to be on your toes.  All that being said, Steve and I had a great ski day by sticking to lower angle north facing terrain, including some glade skiing in a new area Steve has been thinking about.

Bad news: amazingly so, the pack is not getting any stronger other than surface windcrusts/slabs, and uphill skin tracks continue to be a wallorama, and stumps, logs, rocks, and other vermin try to ruin your ski season.

Snow has also melted out of big firs and when trees get dense, you quickly find yourself in breakable MF crust from dripping water , but in gladed areas, we could not help but smile! 

Natural cycle occurred during the last wind event and summit ridges were littered with evidence of propagating wind slabs (some over a 1000') from cornice falls, especially east facing summit ridge lines like wedding ring. 

Steve noticed a new slab that had pulled out from cornice fall/heating, since Wednesday, so thinks are still dicey in the usual suspect areas.