Temperamental Temps!

New snow, wind and a rapid rise in temperatures to near zero kept us on our toes today. It was -14 when we left the staging area, and as we climbed up to our destination we got some intense goggle fogging letting us know we had hit a pocket of warm air higher up. At 2100m it was only -1 and the snow was starting to get a much "slabbier" feel. (that is a word right?) Visibility in the alpine was limited so we didn't see any recent avalanches, despite our best attempts. We experienced some intense graupel showers (snow like little Styrofoam balls) and moderate south west winds at treeline. We knew there were some big boy cornices in the area and we didn't feel like being anywhere near those paths today.