Warm and Sunny on Castle Peak

Clear overnight with below freezing temperatures provided a good snow surface refreeze.  Thin melt freeze crusts are developing on E-SE-S-SW aspects 1-3'' thick in open areas.  Below these melt freeze crusts exists colder unconsolidated snow that has not yet gone through the melt freeze process.  Ski tracks from yesterday on southerly aspects showed breakable crusts once the melt freeze crust warmed, weakened, and became unsupportable.  Travel conditions today were firm in the morning and became soft and still supportable up to 11:30am.   Snow was then becoming sticky, punchy, and unsupportable.  On northerly aspects, cold unconsolidated snow exists on steep and protected slopes. On lower angle northerly terrain that received sun and/or wind, a variety of crusts are present.