Weather
Clear skies, temperatures in the 20s, rising to the 40s by midday. Steady westerly breezes kept the alpine cool in the morning.
Snowpack
The snowpack is a-changing, folks. But, it's slower to change in the places where the sun don't shine. We found some soft wind-ripple in the alpine, and some punchy but unreactive "windskins" on windward features, but otherwise we found mostly rock solid melt-freeze crusts that broke down and softened throughout the morning. Today, east-facing terrain was perfectly ripe around 11am, and I bet that time will get earlier in the coming days. And by 11:30am, we starting punching through and sinking into the isothermal snowpack as we exited lower-elevation east-facing slopes. Timing it early will be key in the coming days.
Avalanche
Loose Wet avalanches on South Lookout Peak.