Maybe my terminology is incorrect? I was at Kirkwood on Saturday. Anything in the shade was hard and icy to me, but it was nice and soft in the sun.So, when were you skiing ice and slush? Last week?
The weekend before, I was Sierra-at-Tahoe, which wasn't really icy at all because the runs I went on were in the sun starting quite early. Just snow the consistency of a slurpee.
My most common experience over the past 20 years is kinda hard and slippery in the morning, which I do not like, and fairly soft and wet in the afternoon, which I'm fine with. Mostly I go later in the season.