Almost corn on Stevens

We left the car just after 8am below Stevens Peak. The snow in the mostly treed approach was a mix of firm and soft, with the open areas holding more refrozen snow surface. Once we mostly left trees at around 8600 feet the snow surface was mostly firm but edgable. By 930am the air temps and sun were quite warm and we sought out shade for breaks during our climb. Snow on our mostly east facing climb to the ridge softened quickly. By the time our descent at 1130, the surface snow was mostly soft and enjoyable down to about 8000 feet. Below 8000 the snow was a mix of too soft with some surprising firm snow in shady spots. Our tour mostly avoided avalanche terrain and we didn't see any recent skier caused or natural roller ball or loose wet activity. 

Photo 1: Above 8600 feet on open east facing terrain the snow was very close to corn. 

Photo 2: A few shaded gullies held more wintry snow.