Jake's Peak

We explored various aspects of Jake's Peak today and found a wide variety of snow surface conditions without any signs of current instability. Large areas of exposed dirt and rocks exist on the south aspects, and snow coverage has become patchy. The snow there has undergone enough melt-freeze cycles to fully transition to spring-like conditions, with firm conditions in the morning that soften into "corn" as the day warms. Northerly aspects still hold colder, weaker snow (near-surface facets) on the surface. In areas without previous tracks, this snow provides a soft, consistent surface, but those areas are shrinking. Most places have previous tracks that result in an uneven, inconsistent surface. In between these slopes, the E aspects hold in between snow. The snow on these aspects has some melt-freeze properties, like surface crusts, and some winter snow properties. These aspects also have in between coverage with more rocks than the N aspects and more snow than the S aspects.  

Also notable is the diminishing snow cover below about 7100 ft. The exposed rocks, bushes, creeks, and other obstacles made travel over the snow more challenging at the lower elevations.