Snowspider conditions

Spent 3 days in the Snowspider area. HS about 3-4 m near the hut. Thursday May 12nd was stormy and remained below 0C. Friday May 13th surprised us with amazingly dry powder above 1600 m. No signs of instability and about 15-20 cm fresh. It warmed up during the day but remained soft enough for good skiing. On steep West aspects wet slabs were easy to trigger. Snowpack felt consolidated on NW-N-NE aspects but didn't dig down. At valley bottom it was isothermal by end of day Friday. Saturday May14th saw no precip. On alpine ridges, there was significant accumulation on lee side, but moderate hard on hand pits, no planar. On S aspects a crust could be felt underneath the new snow. By end of the Saturday the snow was very heavy below 1700 m. Lots of wet slabs on all aspects were seen in the afternoon. We exited via Keiths hut - snow was heavy and wet and we left the area in light rain. Snow's probably still good up high on N aspects, but seems like the spring warm up is near...