Weather
Mild temps, overcast to broken skies with a moderate southwest wind becoming west in the afternoon, strong gusts and active snow transport. Light flurries in the afternoon at the trailhead.
Snowpack
Below tree line, the wettest snow I found was on southeast and east facing aspects. A snow pit on northeast aspect below tree line revealed 21cm of decomposing storm snow, a thin but hard melt freeze crust and 1F moist polycrystals. Extended column tests produced only cracking on 1F layer on taps 15 and 22. Near tree line, wind was keeping the surface snow dry. In a snow pit on northeast aspect near tree line, I found a 1F hard surface wind slab over F hard decomposing storm snow, ice, and a thin 4F+ facet layer. This structure produced propagation on taps 1 and 3 on wind slab and decomposing storm snow interface. Snow on solar aspects was cooling in the afternoon when we descended and starting to refreeze in places.