2/7/12, Crystal peak, No country for good snow

I responded to trolleymans request for partners, and after a near miss of connecting this morning, off we went from the enumclaw safeway parking lot.
Troll hadn't been out for a couple weeks, and wanted to break some rust loose. I had been daydreaming of creamy goodness down at the Nisqually chutes, but with limited time, and a much shorter drive to crystal, we headed east.
We were on the lift shortly after 9, and as we loaded 6, the lift op mumbled something about nasty, crusty mank. Discouraging for the masses, but no mind, we had skins! :D
One lone bc equiped skier passed us on the ridge, and no one else seemed interested in the southland.
As we dropped down towards the lakes, there were a few decent pockets of snow the wind hadn't found yet, but not really enough to link any turns.  Oh well, I didn't expect much from west facing in the AM.
We crossed near the lower lake, and climbed up to the ridge below crystal peak through the stiff aging slide debris.  Looked like a pretty good sized chunk of cornice had made quite a mess of this slope, and there was still much cornice left hanging. No need to dilly dally.
We dropped down to the west towards 410 getting pulled further and further with the thought of good snow just a little farther from the ridge, in the protection of the trees, down in the trough below that shoulder, in the sun... But it was not to be.
About a thousand feet lower, and at the gate of thickening trees, we pulled the plug.  I didn't mind much, as I was able to scout a slope I hadn't skied before, and I was sure there would still be a nice descent down that NE facing gully heading back to the lakes.  I mean, I watched the snow blowing into it during our initial climb. It was cold. This thing probably hadn't been touched by a ray of sun since August. Surely there would be some goodness in its sheltered depths. I was only slightly concerned it might be too filled in and we would have to deal with some instability.
Not to worry.  :'(. We found loud, windblown, bulletproof, runneled, refrozen snow with a hint of buried slide debris.  Nothing moved.
Still a great day beyond the ropes with stunning views, good company, and some new (to me) terrain.
Ran across another pair who had just dropped in and stayed close to three way, finding some good snow on a short north facing shot above the upper lake.
There was a slight sting from our salted wounds as we dropped into silver basin making turns in the best snow we'd seen all day.
No pics. I did shoot some video, but the language that could be heard over the gusting winds would not be appropriate for TAY.     >:(. (JK)