Elephant's Back

I skinned from the Carson Pass snopark out to Elephant's Back and there was just enough snow on the ground to make skinning the best choice for travel. Near the edge of the ridge the wind has scoured much of the snow and there was not enough snow to skin on and walking was challenging due to the intermittent snow and bushes. Looking around at Round Top, Elephant's Back and the south facing parts of Red Lake Peak showed quite a bit of rock and bare ground still present. There are patches on snow cover but more area without snow. Given the shallow snow depth it was fairly easy to dig to the ground and check out the snow. In all the quick pits I dug the facets I found appeared to have been previously wet and all clumped in my hand when I compressed them. Surface conditions (where there was snow) were mostly soft snow although several areas had a firm crust which I believe was exposed by wind eroding the softer snow above the crust, and a few areas had firm wind board. It is very early season conditions on Carson Pass.