Quick report
Went up Red Mt. mid-day yesterday to take advantage of the last of the high pressure sunshine. Not much to say about conditions that hasn't already been said. Lots of the usual variability depending on aspect and sheltering (shadows and wind). And yes, fields of beautiful frost crystals glittering in the lowland sun. The foot of loose sugar/faceted snow below the 2-3" crust--found in many places as well as on Red's W face--seems to be the biggest issue going forward. Given the stout crust, it seems it would require a substantial load (several feet of snow) for failure to occur. To heal it would, it seems, require warming /moisture; not much of that in the immediate forecast. Mostly I just wanted to post a psa about cornices after seeing oblivious boot tracks on Red's summit.