I just got back from skiing Mt. Blackmore. There was probably 8" of new snow at the reservoir, but it got deeper as we went up, there was probably 14-16" up at the peak. We dug a pit at the meadow just before entering the bowl below the peak and there was around a 4' base, with a couple faceted layers toward the middle and bottom of the snowpack. Surprisingly it held up well, and we didn't get any clean shears doing compression tests. The snow was bonded well enough to the ground that it pulled up dirt when we flipped over the bottom block, and the snow, although pretty rotten, actually seemed to bond ok to itself. However, that was on an east-facing slope that never sees sun or wind for the most part.
Up higher, there was a little wind effect going on, and a lot more prominent crust below the new snow (this was on E/SE facing stuff). Some other guys dug a pit on a SE-facing slope at around 9,000-9,500', and they got a clean shear at 15 during their compression test. There wasn't any collapsing going on, but it was enough to where we kept only one person on the entire slope at a time. The skiing was really good though, it was boot or knee deep all the way down until the trail began. I didn't see any natural activity, but it was also snowing and the clouds were super low, so there could have been some--just not where we were skinning. So the snowpack is looking pretty good for this time of the year, but keep in mind that it is still super variable.
