Observations from Carson Pass

Found firm surface conditions on open south facing slopes near Carson Pass this morning. About an even split of sun and clouds slowed snow softening. Near and at the ridgeline a cool west wind was blowing. Above about 8500 faint rime coated the snow surface, rocks, and branches. Snow was supportable to boot penetration until descending to below 8500 around 1030am when it softened and boot penetration was nearing the upper cuff. 

Photo 1: Firm surface conditions before 9am on open south facing slopes. The texture was interesting and provided excellent skin purchase. 

Photo 2: While conditions were mostly supportable for ascending on skis, a few areas in dense treed areas were non-supportable. These unsupportable areas were quite small and limited to areas near dense trees. 

Photo 3: From the ridge looking into Meiss country, I spotted this one small previous loose wet slide on north facing slope. In the distance, the north side of Roundtop and the Sisters appeared to have multiple previous loose wet slides as well. 

Photo 4: Descending around 10am, most aspects that had received sun had about an inch of soft snow.