Castle/ Andesite

Toured the Castle/Andesite area with students for level one course. A fog layer covered the area most of the morning until mid-afternoon. Dug a pit at 7800 ft on an east aspect of Andesite Peak discovered 1 cm crust over fist hard snow. The rain crust was widespread throughout the zone at all aspects and elevations where we toured up to 8,200 feet (did not go above this elevation). Rime had developed on ridgeline trees and on top of the snow surface on the westside of the exposed ridge. Warming trend throughout the day left many trees dropping big loads of snow as well as creating substantial drip around the bottom of trees.