Quick report
The entire mountain was hard and icy in the morning and even climbers in crampons had difficulty on the east aspect of Monitor Ridge at 7500 feet where snow from the last storm has increased the slope angle from 30 degrees to just over 50 degrees. That slope softened in the early afternoon leaving 2-3" of wet snow on top of ice, a situation that led to several more falls. Nobody was able to negotiate that section upbound on skis. The heavy rains last week left areas above 7800' that had clear hard frozen rain 1-3" thick. Other than a crack associated with a sagging rim cornice, the most impressive evidence of the recent rain on snow event was numerous glide cracks and debris at 4300-4500 feet from a very large avalanche (D3) that went down the canyon that leads to Chocolate Falls. This avalanche was not noted in a 3/21 report, but it appeared to be several days old. There was no new activity today. Cold temps on 3/21 and overnight limited daytime softening to 2-3" even down at the treeline.