Early Birds Get the Corn

Day off corn harvest on Mt. Stanton.

• The snow was ripe by 11:15 on south aspects to 7700 feet.  It was already goop by the time we dropped below 4500 feet 30 minutes later. Good thing we started in the dark.
• There are a few gaps opening up behind large cornices along alpine ridgelines.
• The snowpack is shallow - 2 to 4 feet. The surface was a 2-4 inch melt freeze crust with wet depth hoar to the ground everywhere we traveled. In places where the crust was thinner we got localized collapses as it broke on the underlying weak snow around us.
• The are some old, large, wet loose avalanches in the main gully that pulled out slabs and gouged to the ground on their way down. Not sure when exactly they ran. No new activity while we were there today, but we left before the snowpack became saturated.
• We were back at the car in flip flops and shorts by 12:30. Even upper elevations warmed so fast after the sun hit them that we were glad we hit the timing right.