Variable and eventually softening conditions on Mount Judah

We left the truck near 11:00am today in hopes of allowing ample time for snow softening.  Conditions at the beginning of our tour near Mary Lake were frozen and firm.  Near 7,600', we dug out the rain crust, which was ~8" in depth.  This crust is transitioning into a melt-freeze layer with densities ranging from pencil to knife hard.  On both Wildflower Ridge and the Judah Ridge, there were large cornices and impressive cornice cracking.  These cracks were upwards of 200' long and were +20' deep.  Ridgetop conditions had been shaped by everything the Sierra can deliver: heavy wind, rain, snow, and strong sunshine.  The surface was a multitude of roughly textured ice sheets, very dense snow, dirt, and rocks.  Looking to the S, we could see more evidence of the recent avalanche cycle with large crowns obvious above Cold Stream and along the crest.  We descended S S/E slopes around noon on 1.5" of wet snow.  At 1:00pm, conditions had softened to ~2-3".  Winds were very light in sheltered terrain and low to moderate on exposed ridges.  Cloud cover was on a steady increase, but significant overcast didn't arrive until around 3:30pm.