Mushroom Ridge

The snowpack was locked up on all aspects and elevations that I traveled. I did not observe steep N-facing slopes. A skiff of recent snow increased to about 2 cm by the top of Mushroom Ridge. This was melted off of steep sunny slopes and blown into thin slabs on others. "Slabs" were 10-15 cm thick and about the size of a California King bed. Some localized drifts were 25 cm thick. The slabs were not bonding well to the slick icy crusts beneath and caused me to slide out and lose footing when they cracked and slid. Although small, I could see getting surprised by one of these when descending a steep, firm, line in the alpine. 

There were no wet avalanche concerns. At about noon, I found good, slightly aerated, and icy corn on steep middle elevation souths and similar conditions on E/SE mid-morning. It was still icy in the alpine.

No obvious signs of instability. Cracking in thin, isolated slabs.