What started as a bluebird morning quickly became stormy, and 5cm of snow accumulated in just over two hours. As the afternoon continued, there were additional sun breaks. Winds were calm.
I found 75cm of snow at the trailhead for Tronson Meadows, where just a week ago, it was bare dirt. This storm was quite the treat for the eastern Cascades, where it felt like Spring had arrived too soon. A thin melt-freeze crust has already formed on the surface in some more western and southern aspects. Northerly aspects had cold, dry snow.
At 5000ft on a north aspect, I found an HS of 155cm with 95cm of snow from 4/8-4/15 and a favorable hardness profile. Interspersed in the lower 15cm of this snow was a few thin melt-freeze crusts. While some snow between those crusts was weaker, I could not identify faceted grains and the layers were not reactive in stability tests (CTN, ECTX).
I did locate some older wind slabs covered by more recent snow. While they were difficult to pick out, I could feel the stiffer snow collapse just beneath my skis as I broke trail. I did not see any shooting cracks or feel loud or large whumps in these wind-loaded pockets. These slabs were thin at this location, well below the ridge, around 10-15cm.