Alpental Valley/ Snow Lake

It was a warm spring day in the mountains. While we could push very small piles of wet snow in very steep terrain, none of them amounted to a concern. Instead, the travel conditions kept most of our focus. Many of the snow bridges we've used all season are either scarily thin or have collapsed. We frequently found holes and cracks in random locations. While slopes were firm in the morning, we fortunately didn't need ski crampons. Overall, travel was slower and more convoluted than normal. 

None noted

There's not a lot going on in the snowpack. Even though the entire thing is some version of melt-form grains, you can still find distinct layers. The most prominent is still the burly 3/25 crust. On southerlies, this was just below the surface. On higher shaded slopes, there was about a foot of smaller melt forms and crusts above the 3/25. Why does this 3/25 crust matter so much? Well, it's preventing avalanches from gouging into the snowpack and keeping any lingering deeper weak snow from being an issue. 

The snow surface had a modest freeze last night at lower elevations where temperatures were colder. Higher in the terrain where temps stayed in the 40s all night, the surface barely froze at all. This resulted in punchy wet snow almost right out of the gate this morning. The north slope of Chair provided the best travel, with smoother more supportable snow. 

There aren't a ton of cornices or blocks of snow hanging along ridges left to fall down, but there are a few. Mostly we saw small blobs of snow clinging to small ledges in the cliffs. Most of these will probably melt in place, but a few could still fall down.

Coverage is, without a doubt, the biggest issue. Creek crossings are becoming thin and hard to find. Southerly slopes hold thin, patchy snowpacks, and random holes and cracks in the snow abound.