Andesite Peak

Last night's refreeze was not as thick as the previous night's, especially in tree-covered areas. Still, it had frozen enough to support me on my skis at the start of my tour. By about 10:30 am, I started sinking into boot-top deep wet snow when I stepped off my skis in some spots. In open areas, the snow stayed supportable a bit longer. The sun and warm weather had already formed a few inches of soft, wet snow on top of the crust by 10 am on sunny slopes. Below the soft, wet snow, the crust ranged from 2 to 4 inches in thickness with a deeper layer of wet snow below it. I saw some signs of unstable wet snow on steep sunny slopes from previous days, including large pinwheels and small wet loose sluffs on my tour.