Melt-Freeze Crust

Skinnable snow is about 2 miles up the trail. I was expecting a dense spring snowpack, but northerly aspects are still very much winter like with a thin sun crust over powder. Southerly aspects a little more consolidated. I dug a shallow pit on a southerly aspect and there is still a 1ft thick powder layer underneath about half a foot of melt-freeze surface layer. Snow depths are also highly variable though, and I think my pit wasn't necessarily representative of the entire slope. South facing slopes had softened by 11am, but the southwesterly line I skied was better around 12.