Quick report
Our goal today was to step it out cautiously and avoid rapidly warming fresh snow. We wanted to see how the warm temps were impacting the snow. Our intention was to stick to sheltered cold slopes and avoid the wet loose problem. We departed from our car at Twin Lakes around 11:30am, and headed up to the TJ bowl area in the Lakes Basin. Immediately upon setting out, widespread wet loose instabilities were visible on solar slopes. Natural roller ball activity as well as a small wet loose slide (D1) were visible. Higher up, between 9500' and 10500', a cool breeze and northerly aspect kept the snow quite cold. A wind skin from the prior day had faceted out. Sensor data from Mammoth Mountain today suggests that areas above 10500' did not reach temps over freezing, and our experience matches this–very cold wintery snow on northerly aspects above about 9500'. The sun has definitely started to work its magic on all solar aspects. The snow was getting very wet, and crusty by the end of the day as temps started to dip back down in the afternoon.