Quick report
We skinned from the parking lot at Mono Village, and followed the summer trail up Horse Creek to hanging valley at 8000 ft. The weather was calm, clear, inverted and above average temperatures. There was about 4" on the ground at 7k, and 12" at 8k. Above 8k, usable snow coverage on polars was much more consistent. Coverage on solars was essentially nonexistent. Snow in the mid elevation valley bottoms was shallow and faceted as youd expect, but the snow with any angle had been consolidated pretty thoroughly by wind either previously or recently. The pervasive rain crust faded above 8500ft or so. Below that it was present but easily breakable. Above 9500ft or so, all but the most protected terrain had been affected by wind with surfaces ranging from hard wind board, breakable crust, and some soft deposits in low lying gullies. We did find deep soft snow in protected couloirs and north facing leeward trees below 10k. Coverage above 9k was at least average or a bit better for this time of year. We saw several large debris piles Above Tree Line in the Matterhorn Cirque which appear to have run after the most recent large loading event several days ago. The start zones and tracks were filled back in. We observed no real signs of instability except for surface sluffs in steep terrain and and collapsing in cold shallow protected valley bottoms. We did not dig in the snow but probed throughout the day and mostly found a pack that progressively increased in density. We approached the day with no real objective but would say that we stepped out as we gained confidence on our climb and eventually skied some steep, technical terrain Overall, our impression of the stability was a stable, usable early season snowpack and mid and upper elevations. The snowpack in the lowers is shallow, faceted and unsupportable.