We toured into N-facing terrain well east of Stevens Pass at elevations as high as 4400'. A crust beneath the new snow that was supportable at the car became increasingly weak as we ascended, becoming readily penetrated by a ski-pole basket by 3k, with soft snow beneath . Upon entering open terrain above 4k, we dug in to get a better handle on the situation.
I have never seen a clearer delineation of uniform new snow sitting atop garbage in a snow profile. Perhaps 30 cm of fist-hard new snow sat upon a decomposing and faceted crust with more fist/4F below. An ECT failed in sudden-collapse at ECTP3 . We would go no higher.
Flurries turned to steady light/moderate showers through much of the day, refilling the skintrack a little. Mid-day found small graupel and rimed stellars. Big aggregated flakes were beautiful as we reached the car. Alders and deciduous trees delicately hung onto 2-4 cm of accumulation all day.
Skiing on shallow or treed slopes was quite good, bordering on excellent. Nary a whumph all day, though the snowpack felt primed for it; propagation-propensity wasn't quite there. I was glad to see tonight's forecast had gone High.
Creek-coverage remains an issue at mid/lower elevations.