Little St. Joe

Toured up Little St. Joe just to see what was happening - low expectations led to a good day. Morning was clear and sunny, but cold. There is very little snow at low to mid levels, and we hiked quite a ways before transitioning, definitely past the summer trailhead. From the summer trailhead to the bench beneath the standard bowl, we experienced substantial and wide spread cracking and collapsing of the snow - there was a hard layer of ice with 2-5 inches of new snow. Up high, 7500-9000, there is more snow, 5-6 inches of light snow, again on an ice crust. We dug a pit at about 8600 on an east facing aspect. There was 90 cm of snow, with two ice layers midway up the pack. The base of the snow pack had about 6-8 inches of facets. ECTP16.

Quick report