Quick report
Castle Lake is melted out. Winter recreation remains possible, but it will require navigating bare ground and open creeks. Northerly aspects hold consistent snow coverage. Most southerly aspects are snow-free. East and west aspects have patchy coverage. Where snow exists, surface textures are rough - either rain runnelled or sun cupped. Surface crusts began to break down on solar aspects by late-morning, but remained supportable on northerly aspects. As temperatures warm this weekend into next week, the upper snowpack in this area may lose additional cohesion. The cornice on the north-facing ridgeline near Middle Peak is overhung and will be vulnerable to collapse with the upcoming warm-up.
Weather
- Air Temp
- above freezing
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Unseasonably warm temperatures, mostly clear skies, and light winds.
Snowpack
Crusts of varying thicknesses capped the snowpack. Softer, wet snow exists beneath the surface crusts on all aspects.
Snow surfaces:
East, 6,000 feet - a 6-inch melt-freeze crust (K-) with softer wet snow (4F) beneath. This crust was becoming unsupportable to boots by late morning.
South, 6,000 feet - a 4-inch melt-freeze crust (P) with softer wet snow beneath (4F). This crust became unsupportable to boots by late morning.
North, 6,100 feet - a 9-inch melt-freeze crust (K-) with softer wet snow beneath (1F). Slope angle 32 degrees. This crust remained supportable to boots.