Snowpit on NE-facing slope Mt Rose

Went for short tour on Mt Rose with the objective of looking for buried surface hoar on N/NE aspects. We found a variety of surface snow conditions, including supportable melt-freeze crust (and later, corn-ish conditions), breakable crust, and soft snow on SE aspects below 8,000 ft; melt-freeze and shallow wind slab on E-facing slopes in open areas between 8000 and 8400 ft; and soft snow on N and NE aspects between 8800 and 9500 ft. Dug a pit on a NE aspect at 9200 ft. There was a very thin surface crust around 10 cm below the new surface snow in this area; looked for buried surface hoar on top of this thin crust, found some of what looked like old, decomposing feathers but they were very small and not widespread, even within a 90 cm transect. Also found some faceting ~70 cm down (i.e. below all of the new snow from the last big storm cycle). We did not conduct any instability tests. By the time we started skiing out (~11 AM), the snow on N-facing slopes was starting to get heavier, with some rollerballs forming.