Observation: Steam Mill Peak

This picture is from about 9,000 feet on the N-NE face of Steam Mill Peak. There was about 35 cm of soft snow bonded well to a melt-freeze crust. The surface of the snow was damp, but if you kept going along the ridge and switched aspects to due north the snow was still dry at about 4 pm. I would expect that the snow stayed dry through the rest of the day on N maybe even NW facing slopes above around 7,500 ft.

Travel was in Steep Hollow and Hells Kitchen. Found that most aspects got damp today besides high north facing terrain. There was about 8-12 inches of settled snow with deeper wind drifted spots. You could see that the wind whipped this past storm as some places near and on the ridges were scoured while others were loaded. I did not note any significant instabilities.