Pre-storm tour of Meiss

I went for a pre-storm tour of Meiss to check surface conditions on multiple aspects. I was able to travel the full compass, with elevations ranging from 8400' to 9100'. All surfaces traveled had undergone at least some melt-freeze metamorphism. In general, the cooler surfaces (due to aspect, elevation, and slope angle) had weaker crusts and more developed facets near the surface. Warmer slopes had stronger crusts and rounded/wet facets or no facets. Weakest facets were observed on NW, N, NE aspects below ridgetop. Near ridgetop and in other areas exposed to winds over the past several weeks, surfaces were scoured back down to an older, strong and thick crust without facets near the surface. The Jan 4th facet layer was still observable on cool slopes, but under about 1ft of strong pencil hard snow.

Pic 1: West face of Red Lake Peak and Stevens Peak as seen from Meiss Meadow near the cabin. Still plenty of snow for travel in the gullies, and good corn today. Facets were not observed on these aspects, but old facets that had been through several melt/freeze cycles were still observable.

Pic 2: Lots of texture on the surface snow on E aspects just below ridgetop. No facets observed until I got a little more north of east, and also farther away from ridgetops.

Video: Double crust at the surface, with facets in between and below. In some places, the surface crust was stronger than in this video, and the snow just below was DFs, not facets. But the weaker facets below the second crust were observable and weak on most cool aspects.