Elephant's Back

We toured N-NE-E aspect terrain between 8,400' and 9,200' from Carson Pass to Elephant's Back during the late morning and early afternoon hours. There was evidence of a decent snow surface refreeze in this area last night. The snow surface was in melt phase on all aspects we traveled at our 10:15 am start time. Ski penetration ranged from 0.5 to 2 inches up until about 12:30 pm. After that time, conditions on E and some NE aspect terrain started to lose ski supportability with ski penetration depth increasing. Starting around 12:30 pm, signs of wet loose avalanche potential was starting to show on NE-E aspect terrain, especially below 8,800'.