Incline Lake Peak

On the way over to Incline Lake Peak, we could see many areas of exposed dirt and bushes on sunny slopes, even though this area got more snow than others over the weekend. During our tour, we found that the weekend's 6 to 8 inches of snow had become 2 to 3 inches through settlement and melting. This thin layer of new snow rested on top of old, weak snow (near surface facets) on these sheltered, northerly aspects. When we got into more exposed terrain, the NE winds had scoured most of the recent snow away from northerly, leaving behind the old firm and uneven snow surfaces. On the southerly aspects, the sun and warmth had already melted most of the fresh snow away. These aspects had 2-3 inches of wet snow by midday, and ski cuts caused this snow to sluff downslope. These sluffs of wet snow stayed small and inconsequential, but we left the area before the peak of daytime warming.