Slopes below tree line in direct sun were shallow and warming up quickly from the sun and warm temperatures. Above tree line on southern slopes the snowpack was firm and rounding, on west slopes it was weak and cold underneath the mid-February slab of snow.

Ruedi Reservoir east of Basalt

I traveled on southern slopes below tree line up to southeast through west slopes near tree line on Mt Thomas

Mt Thomas, lower east bowl

Below 9,500' southern slopes were mostly melted to the ground. On the south slopes I traveled from 9,500' to 11,000' the height of snow was 60-80 with a thick melt-freeze crust that I could not break through on skis. By the afternoon the sunny areas were wet and skiing like corn, but the crusts didn't melt in shady wooded areas. Liquid water was saturating the snow in the sun and pooling 10-30cm below the surface.

Near tree line the crust was much thinner and variably breakable. All aspects I was on (E-S-W) had a height of snow from 110-120cm and a melt-freeze surface crust.
On a southeast slope at 11,500' the snowpack was very firm (mostly pencil hard or 1 finger hard) and rounding throughout. There's still a foot of rounding depth hoar at the bottom of the snowpack but a propagation saw test showed that this layer isn't very sensitive.

Near tree line on a west slope the story was completely different. While the height of snow was similar the layering was not. The bottom half of the snowpack was much softer and more sensitive. There was a layer of sensitive facets sandwiched between two mid-pack melt-freeze crusts, and about 60cm of facets and depth hoar underneath those two crusts. With the surface melt-freeze crust on top, along with a dense slab from all the snow we got around Valentine's day, it looks and feels like spring corn. But all the snow beneath is cold, dry, and very weak.

Temps were above freezing all day, skis were clear and the sun was intense. By the afternoon a light breeze started from the northwest but overall the day was quite calm