Warm temps and weak 1/4 crust on Mt Rose

We toured in low angle terrain on the east side of Mt Rose today.  On N-NE aspects, new snow remained cold and good skiing could be found in the trees.  The snow surface was wet on E-SE aspects by 11:00 but no signs of loose wet activity were observed.  East aspects had a thin surface crust by 2pm.  The 1/4 facets/crust could be found throughout the area.  Several quick pits on N and NE aspects revealed a decomposed crust buried under 15-25 cm of new snow with F hard facets beneath.  Although this weak layer failed in  compression tests (CT15 SC), ECTs did not show evidence of propagation (ECTN 19).  Although the facets below the 1/4 crust are very weak, the crust in the area we visited has decomposed such that with only fist hard new snow above there is currently no slab overlying this weak layer.  We could feel the crust collapsing as we skinned, but the collapse was localized to our ski tracks, no whumps or widespread collapses were observed.  Concerned about wind loaded areas where a wind slab may overly this weak layer, we remained in sheltered terrain near and below treeline and remained on slopes less than 32 degrees.