Weather
Warm, sunny and calm below tree line with a light west freeze near and above tree line.
Snowpack
Below tree line, snow in shaded aspects was either soft and decomposing or completely frozen on both my ascent and descent today. On solar aspects, snow below tree line was warming and becoming wet. Near tree line, the snow began to show signs of wind effect, and the height of snow ranged from a meter to 285cm. I found 8 to 10 inches of decomposing fragments on northerly aspects from most recent snow fall sitting under melt freeze crusts or wind slabs. I found a 4F facet layer buried 20-30cm on north, northwest and south aspects, similar to the 4F layers I found at Lefthand Reservoir on Sunday. A snow pit dug on north facing aspect at 11,700ft produced only cracking on 4F facet layer from blows from the shoulder on extended column tests (ECTs). A snow pit dug on south facing aspect at 11,900ft had moist snow on the surface but was dry below. I found two thin layers of 4F facets buried 20 to 25cm down with a K hard melt freeze crust in between. This structure also produced cracking on 4F layer but not propagation with blows from the elbow on ECTs.