Crusts and Wet Snow on Rubicon Peak

Spring melting has made following snow a bit like following a maze below 7500 ft. on Rubicon. I was able to keep my skis on and stay on snow, but I did have to meander a bit for this lower part of the ascent. Once I got above 7500 ft, coverage improved significantly. On the shaded N-NE aspects of Rubicon, a breakable crust existed on top of the recent storm snow in most places. That surface crust had melted by 11 am in any spots that had gotten sun. The snow below the crust has not been through enough melt-freeze cycles to become spring snow. It was wet and sticky in the places where the crust was soft and dry and cold in the shaded places that hardly ever see the sun. Storm snow depth in this area appeared to be about 3 to 4 inches. Ski kicks on some of the sunny spots on the northerly aspects started to produce small roller balls and pinwheels involving the storm snow around noon. 

Once I got to the top, I moved over to the sunnier E aspects hoping for spring snow. The snow was closer to being spring snow, but it still had not transitioned fully. The recent storm snow was wet and sticky on these aspects. Ski cuts on small test slopes triggered roller balls and small sluffs where the recent storm snow would slide off the old melt-freeze crust. I stuck to lower angle slopes for the descent.