With obs for Cutler Ridge from yesterday (20200214 see: https://youtu.be/QhK6qENgXDk ), the Divide seemed like the obvious place to go this morning in advance of the incoming storm.

I started on the south (Lewis Peak) side to check out the northerlies. Crust was abundant throughout. Open NW aspects had a thin sheen of sun crust/melt freeze on top (0.5-2cm thick), with a bit softer snow beneath and additional crust lower, about 30cm down. This terrain was not quite slide for life as the crust just wasn't thick enough to really be supportive. Exposed NE aspects had wind affected snow atop a pretty stiff crust, with the occasional bit of surface shine as well. The softest crust was found in heavily treed terrain in the north quadrant of the compass. This allowed for the occasional turn or two punching into heavier snow underneath, but most of the descent back to the trailhead would have been better suited to snowshoes than skis. The overall theme was 1-5cm thick surface crust of one kind or another, well preserved graupel beneath this mixed with decomposing particles, near surface facets, and even a bit of what looked like hoar feathers in one instance. When digging hand pits (required use of the ski pole to break through the crust) the crust separated easily and slid off the graupel beneath. Near the exposed ridgeline (above approx. 7000ft), the loose snow beneath the crust created a hollow drum like sound when struck with a pole. Also found about 1cm or so of surface faceting eating into the crust below in much of the zone.

I then moved across the highway to the north (Ben Lomond) side. The south facing crust was quite substantial and nearly impenetrable in places. In one particularly sunny location the surface crust was nearly 15cm thick and I could barely penetrate it with my shovel. I was quite glad to have ski crampons, but front pointing with boot crampons might have actually been more efficient at times. East and west aspects featured crust between 5 and 10cm thick, mostly supportable beneath skis, with not much for surface faceting. All the crust in this zone (W to S to E, up to about 7300ft) harbored well preserved graupel beneath, with one or two additional crusts in the top 40-50cm of the snowpack. The lower crust(s) had low density mixed forms in between, 4F hardness.

In summary, there's a surface crust pretty much everywhere still. Some of it has NSF eating away at the top of it. All of it has well preserved graupel immediately below it that makes it easy for the crust to fail and slide. On the non-north aspects, there is additional crust below with weak snow in between, which might create step-down potential.