Obs from Ward Canyon

Went for a morning jaunt up to grouse rock mainly for excerise but also to see how the lower elevation (below 7500ft) snowpack was looking on the west shore. As expected, mix bag of snow surface conditions from fun near surface facet skiing to rock hard ski tracks, crusts, and low-no snow in spots. The recent east wind event beat up the already tired snowpack near/above treeline, but hope is in sight with some snow in the forcast... hopefully. 

Lower elevation north facing aspects have a pretty weak upper structure in place for the incoming storms as being repeatedly mentioned by the forcasters. We "could" find ourselves in a interesting avalanche cycle if we see enough snow this weekend. All it "could" take is a slab on top of these weak near surface facets, especially on lower elevations where a thick crust is in place under these  facets (see video) 

Dug snow profile @ 7450ft , NW 330 degrees - HS 82 (see pictures for hand hardness + layer ID , no snowpack tests were conducted)