Becker/Talking Peak

We went to Becker/Talking Peak to try and find some cold winter snow left on northerly aspects.  The approach up the ridge was doable with some booting and steep skinning, but is getting very thin.  Southerly aspects had a moderate refreeze of the snow surface overnight.  These areas softened quickly this morning and had 2-3 inches of soft wet snow on them by 11am.  Areas under tree canopy held deeper wet snow with a limited refreeze of the snowpack.  Steeper northerly aspects held cold soft unconsolidated snow.  Lower angle northerly terrain and other aspects that were receiving some solar radiation had more variable snow surface conditions with a variety of crusts.  We dug 2 test pits in this area focusing on the upper snowpack.  We did not observe any layers of concern including around previous buried surface crusts.  Near surface facets were found on the snow surface, but were limited in size and locations.  Our current snowpack is in good shape to handle additional load with the incoming storm expected on Wednesday and Thursday.