Weather
Warm, calm and sunny in the morning, becoming overcast with trace snowfall and moderate north to northwest winds in the afternoon.
Snowpack
There was a trace amount of new snow on the ground this morning. On north facing aspects below tree line, I could not find a distinguishable slab probing between the parking area and 11,4000ft. The height of snow was generally 60cm. I found a cross loaded gully on this aspect, where I finally felt a slab and the height of snow ranged between 80- 135cm. A snow pit here revealed recent snow forming a slab on top of a very weak snowpack. This structure was reactive to extended column tests, producing sudden collapses on depth hoar layer from blows by the elbow. I continued to ascend, I noticed melt freeze crusts forming between 3-5cm thick anywhere the sun poked through trees. I skinned over a small, north-northeast wind loaded feature where I experienced moderate cracking. The second pit on south-southwest aspect in shallow snow, I found the snow was wet to moist and produced easy, sudden collapses on extended column tests. Continuing to easterly aspects near tree line, I observed considerable signs of wind effect: breakable wind slabs, sastrugi, active snow transport, and K hard surface wind slabs. The height of snow ranged between 20-165cm. My final snow pit was dug at 12,000ft on east facing aspect, where I found near surface facets buried between two K hard slabs. Extended column tests produced moderate propagation on near surface facets after blows from the shoulder. Much to my surprise, a propagation saw test on F hard facet layer buried underneath P to K hard slabs did not produce results, with a score of 100/100 (X).