Prior to the new snow, which came in mid-day, the snow surface was largely damaged by the sun from yesterday. Exceptions which hung on were on north and east above 10,000' >30 degrees. Underneath the recently deposited 5'' or so of surface snow a quite scratchy melt-freeze layer is now present up to at least 10,500'. With reasonably cool temperatures overnight the surface snow has faceted some, likely through a melt layer recrystalization, near-surface faceting process in sheltered areas and made for slippery skinning.
No instabilities were observed in the existing snow. Travel included an ascent of East Devils Castle then skiing off ridge level into the Devils Castle/Castle Apron areas from the Albion Base Area. Focus will be on how much and how fast it snows with how much wind in the current snow event and how it all bonds to existing snow surfaces.
