December 3, 2011, Union Basin

     Four of us headed into Bullion Basin to look for some old soft snow.  We were expecting sun, warmth, and variable conditions, but only found the third.  Increasing clouds, wind and even flurries surprised us.  We climbed the gully and face below the north peak of Crown Point, which was surprisingly wind buffed with some kind of a fog crust in place, but some leftover or blown in soft.   A pit at 6100' on the R side of the face showed good stabillity, with Q2/3 shearing on the crust below Tuesday's storm and the one from before Thanksgiving. 
     Abandoning plans to ski the face we had skinned due to it being mailnly crusts, we dropped into Union Basin on a SE aspect.  The light snow at the summit was just a bit of wind depo; below we had some of the same "mixed bag" Robie mentioned in the Tatoosh:  sun and wind crusts, sometimes breakable , sometimes 2-5" of dust on top, and some deeper crud.  Hard to get a rhythm but still fun.  On the pass back into Bullion we saw substantial clouds in the valleys W of the crest, and none to the E---cool.   
    The descent down the trail to C lot was a bobsled run with chopped up hardening crud. 
Very firm base, even solid around the tree wells.  I hope there is some fresh for next weekend.