Rubicon Peak

The recent snow melt has been impressive. We hiked from the Rubicon Trailhead (6900') up to the Snotel Site (7500') on most all dry dirt trail. We continued walking up this north aspect to just over 7600' where we finally put skis on. We had some route finding to stay on and connect snow patches up to around 8200' before the snow became more continuous. The snow was very supportive and semi-firm on this north aspect and became firm for the last 100' to the top, where we used ski crampons. The overall refreeze of the snow surface seemed better than what we observed yesterday, although the overnight low at the Snotel was 48 degrees.  The East face had supportable snow, but snow coverage quickly disappeared with more and more rocks sticking out. We moved over the the NE aspect which provided more supportable snow conditions. We had to connect more snow patches to get back close to the summer trail and walk back out. The views were amazing and it was a beautiful day in the mountains.