Traveled up the west ridge of Lewiston Peak from Ophir Canyon, then traversed north to Flat Top. Was surprised to see no avalanche activity throughout the range on any aspect, even with rapid warming. Everything but sheltered north-facing terrain had firm melt-freeze crust on the top, with widespread surface hoar crystals on nearly every aspect (even on windy ridgelines). I suspect that with this wet, windy storm coming in, we will see a lot of wind slab activity failing on surface hoar, especially with such a firm bed surface.

We dug a pit at 9300' on the west aspect of Lewiston, total snow depth was 130cm. Performed an ECTX - but with a little help from a the shovel, we pulled out a very large chunk of snow which collapsed on the basal facets that made up the bottom 30cm of snowpack. From our test, an avalanche would be unlikely, but could rip to the ground if triggered in a shallow area. There were 2 melt-freeze crusts at 80cm and 110cm that were pencil hardness, separated by a cohesive, yet only fist hardness slab. The top 20cm of snow was comprised of junky surface facets and melt-freeze crust.

Only snow worth riding was on the N-E section of the compass, with the exception of some fun and shallow bush slalom on solar aspects at low elevations.

Photos:

Large surface hoar crystals as seen on nearly every aspect and elevation

Thin coverage on mid-elevation south aspects

Good coverage of the east facing aspects above 9000'

Melt freeze crust as seen on most solar aspects