Weak but decent refreeze and slowed melt rates on Silver Peak.

We encountered a weak but still decent snow surface refreeze in the Silver Peak area this morning. The top 4 inches of the snowpack was 1F hard melt freeze crust. Melt rates were slowed by cloud cover that was punctuated by occasional sun breaks. Snow surface refreeze strength and thickness varied little within our traveled elevation range of 6,000' to 8,300'.

Descending through the East Bowl at 11:30 am gave us about 1 to 1.5 inches of surface wet snow on top of a supportable crust. Slower melt rates with the cloud cover continued to provide supportable conditions with no signs of loose wet instability prior to our departure from the area around 12:30 pm.