Crusts, Wind features, Melt/Freeze, and Soft Snow on Silver Peak West

We went to Silver Peak west this morning. As expected, we found firm refrozen snow on the sunny aspects that we used to ascend the peak. Ski crampons made the climb much more secure. These E-SE-S aspects still have decent coverage. We saw some areas of bare ground in places that have been wind scoured or where trees blocked some of the accumulation. We also had to carry our skis and walk up dirt near the top where the most wind scouring had occurred.
 
From the top, we saw glazed, icy surfaces on scoured N-NE-E aspects, wind-sculpted surfaces in exposed areas, and melt-freeze snow on the sunny SE-S-SW aspects. We chose to descend a NE aspect on a low-angle shoulder to access a sheltered slope in hopes of finding softer surface snow. We expected survival skiing down that exposed, icy-looking NE shoulder. To our surprise, the ice crust was thin and breakable with softer snow below it. The crust had prevented the NE winds from scouring that thin layer of soft snow away. After those better-than-expected conditions, we made it to the sheltered slope. We found the same soft snow/crust/soft snow sandwich we have seen in other places. The soft snow is facetting, but the facets are not well developed. 

We climbed back up to the ridge and descended the sunny SE-S aspects back to the parking lot. These remained firm and frozen. A few spots that faced SSE had barely started to soften at 9:30 am.