Beauty of a day up in the high country. Travel is thin down low, and the price of admission is high, but with a little patience and some knowin' where you're goin', it's a great time to be out in the mountains. Travel below 9,000 feet is a challenge if you're getting off-trail, but the roads are in decent shape, and once you do gain some elevation, the snowpack allows decent travel and even better riding in some instances. 
A clear indicator of the amount and speed of wind that's blown through the terrain near and above treeline in the area. It's scoured the snow and raised old tracks.
Avoid this area if you are looking for quality turns. Most exposed slopes above treeline are wind-scoured down to bare rock. Travel is difficult, alternating between firm, supportable wind board and punchy, bottomless facets near rock gardens. Keep these slopes in mind if we enter a storm cycle; the weak snow and variable coverage will create thin spots likely to become trigger points for large avalanches.
On a north-facing, sheltered slope around 10,300 feet, the snowpack is generally right side up, contains weak snow, but is currently stable. Where things are closer to 4' deep, like in the photo above, there are no major red flags, but what we are paying attention to is the surface snow that is growing weaker during this extended period of clear weather. Right now it provides soft "powder-esque" riding, but when more storms begin to move through our area it's going to be a different story and avalanche conditions will quickly change.
In the alpine, slopes are wind stripped, or wind-textured, or wind-loaded, depending on exposure to the wind. This is the kind of place you may trigger an avalanche- where recent wind drifted stiff slabs above the very weak layer of faceted snow. In most places, this layer of facets is still on the surface, but up high, where wind moves snow, it has been recently buried, and you could trigger an avalanche.
It was a 'choose your own adventure' kind of day out there, and the folks and current conditions suggest just that. But for the brave ones, you won't be disappointed.
