Travel today was from BCC up Cardiff to Cardiac Ridge, the new coat of graupel was crusted down low because it came in so damp, it seemed to dry out at about 8'500ft. Total snow-pack on Cardiac Ridge is around 20 inches give or take, there is a fairly dense slab capped off by the new graupel, on the due east facing the facets at the ground are damp, but as soon as you tilt to the NE facing portion of the slope the slab is sitting on 4 to 5 inches of fairly well developed facets. I got a few collapses and some cracking while breaking trail which kept me from venturing up into the steeper terrain in the top, but I don't think there's enough weight on the slab right now for it to be a major problem. Dug a hand pit at about 9,300ft on a NE facing test slope that had the dense slab with the dry facets at the bottom set up, easy, clean shear on the facets at the bottom. Also of note was the graupel pooling on the lower angle terrain on Cardiac Ridge, most of the graupel had rolled down the steeper terrain and now resides in the low angle portion of the slope.

Photos: Hand pit failing on facets at the ground, cracking in the wind affected graupel layer with the crack propagating to the old facets at the ground, wet facets at the bottom of a quick hand pit on E facing Cardiac Ridge, graupel pooling off the steeper terrain on Cardiac Ridge, and finally the wind slab and the graupel made for a little better skiing conditions because it kept you on top and cushioned the many obstacles just under the surface.

Thinking moderate on the high NE through NW, low in other terrain.