Just back from 2 days in the Tantalus Range with Ski Guide Exam, and a few important observations to help anyone headed in there, or nearby places in the coast range in the next while.
The first significant observation was the abundance of well developed surface hoar, from 2mm to 10mm in ALL locations. We observed this on summits, ridges, faces, bowls, etc...The wind began to pick up by 4pm when we were flying out, but hard to say how well it will knock it down. At best I would proceed with caution after the next storm (tomorrow). In all solar locations this SH will be sitting on crusts/firm surfaces, and in shady locations it is on 10-15cms of facetted snow.
The second significant observation is the opening up of crevasses and bergshrunds. With the stable and mild temps of the last few weeks the snow pack has settled which has been illustrated by shrunds and cracks beginning to open up. There has been a ton of ski travel in the region with down track and uptracks cruising over these cracks. If you haven't travelled much in the region in the summer, places like the north face of Serratus have MASSIVE slots which are easily seen on google earth; heads up as these start to yawn open this spring.
Ski quality is quite good on the shady aspects (NE-N-NW) but anything with some solar is crust/breakable crust and not as enjoyable to ski. We had no prolonged warm/sunny weather, so solar aspects did not soften up. If travelling on these aspects, boot crampons/ski crampons are a good idea to have along.
I attached a photo from flying out of the North Face of Serratus which shows some of the shrunds/cracks beginning to open up.
Stay safe and have fun out there!
