Hiked (more) and skinned (less) toward a max elevation of 6000'.
Again, the conditions depended greatly on aspect and elevation. Exposed SW to W aspects below ~5500' have melted out a lot (photo) while sheltered NW to N aspects still have ample snow above 5200'. No signs of current instability observed today. Decided to dig a couple pits just below 6000' on a S and again on a N aspect to compare.
The South aspects were fully supportable by a thick K hard crust. An inch or so of a snow/graupel mix softened the ride. The pit profile was isothermal and stability tests yielded a rough CT13 Q3 within a 4F layer of moist snow.
The Northern aspect harbored about the same amount of new snow (~1in) and also had a slighly softer supportable crust. The upper part of the pack is still below freezing though it is getting close to isothermal. Had a surprizing CTR17 Q1 fracture on what looks to be to be a layer of graupel (photo) about 2.5 feet down . The ECTX needs to be taken with a grain of salt as I had a mishap cutting out the back of the column.
OVC all day with light winds and temps hanging just about freezing until noon. Noticed that even the squirrels were sinking in a bit on the descent.
