Surface hoar factory near Pickett Peak

     We toured around Pickett Peak today. The weather was calm and clear all day with steady increasing ambient air temperatures and no wind or snow movement observed at all. The snow conditions below treeline is still holding cold soft snow within this area. The surface hoar was present out of the truck from 7000' up to 8500'. The size of surface hoar varied depending on location but large sized feathers has already started to form. Bouncing in and out of shaded areas we did come across some hard melt freeze crusts but only where the solar radiation is strongest, otherwise cold soft snow exsited. In true northerly aspects near surface facets are starting to form just below the surface hoar in areas. As we gained elevation some open areas had received recent wind effect but not formations of wind slabs below treeline. I stopped on a NE aspect @ 8500' and dug a pit. The profile was right side up, with shovel tilts and compression tests showing no signs of instability within the top few feet of the snow pack. The way down consisted of mostly soft unconsolidated surface snow and there was no snow movement from ski cuts and turns within this snow along our descent. No other signs of instabilities were obsevered.