Better refreeze than expected at Forestdale

We arrived at Forestdale prior to 9am, and even E/SE aspects, getting morning sun, were still a little firm. It was tough to get snowmobile traction on low angle slopes. There was a cool, moderate W wind preventing early softening. After waiting a while for things to soften, we traveled on skis and snowmobiles on N/NE/E slopes from 8000ft to 9200ft and never found them too unsupportable, even up to our departure at 1:30pm. One very steep N aspect was more punchy than others, probably due to not enough daytime melt for a strong crust to develop. On all slopes traveled, snow under the supportable surface was wet from the beginning, but the surface remained supportable. We did not travel any treed slopes today, except briefly at the very bottom of our descents, where the snow surface was not as supportable as elsewhere.

Pic 1: A monster cornice on Deadwood Peak. This one is the biggest we saw in the area, but there are several more large ones.

Pic 2: Leaving a little after 1:30, lots of previous wet loose activity in the Elephant's Graveyard area. We looked closely at this terrain on our ride in, and I don't think any of this activity occurred today. Another large cornice just right of the main buttress.