Les and I had a great day on the Duffey today under broken skies in the morning, clear in the afternoon, light north winds, -2 degrees as a high and no precipitation. We skied between 1300m and 2400m and ski penetration averaged 20-30cm.
Surface hoar was observed to be 5-10mm below treeline and at treeline and 2-3mm in sheltered terrain in the alpine. Previous light to moderate northerly winds have redistributed surface snow and begun light reverse loading.
Steep solar aspects were affected immediately by the sun today as we observed mostly snowballing and moist snow as soon as the sun poked out at 11/1130. Most other aspects and lower angle solar terrain still hold cold, good quality snow.
There was evidence of a cycle of north aspect slab avalanches in the alpine, 5-15cm deep, up to size 1.5. These slabs were specific to very steep, lee features, and isolated on steep, lee features, that appeared to be 48-72 hours old.
There is a decent, well settled, base out there, but still be wary of early season hazards.

Cheers