Relay Peak

Last night's clear skies and cooler temperatures helped form a thicker and stronger refrozen crust on the snow this morning. The E-NE winds slowed down the melting phase and kept things a little cooler today. The sunny E-SE-S-SW aspects had a thin layer of wet snow on the surface by 10:30 am, but the refrozen crust below the wet snow stayed supportable until at least noon in most places. I started to break through the refreeze crust in some spots just after noon. I also looked at N aspects, which remained firm and frozen then. 

When I poked a pole through the crust or dug through it with my shovel, I found a deep layer of old wet snow below. This wet snow seemed to have good drainage channels, as evidenced by increased flow in the creeks and runnels on the snow surface.