Brief window of warm weather at Blue Lakes

Cool morning and even with a late start the off-trail snow was firm enough to cause snowmobile overheating problems. We found cold, loose snow on shaded slopes as low as 8000ft and to our high point just below 9000ft, but most surfaces had a crust. This crust softened in direct sun and made for enjoyable riding, but the afternoon refreeze began early due to additional cooling from moderate E winds. I was able to find some current wind transport today, but it was minimal and did not create slabs big enough to be concerning. No signs of instability observed today.

Pic 1: 8000ft on a due N aspect. Cold, loose snow on the surface above the most recent rain crust. There were facets both above and below this crust. A shovel tilt and compression test showed clean and planar results on these facets, but nowhere did I encounter a slab on top of them. Hand shears throughout the day were consistently clean and planar just below the crust.

Pic 2: Facets at the bottom of the snowpack are still large and weak in this area.

Pic 3: Surface crust everywhere except at least moderately steep due N slopes. 

Pic 4: An E facing, small natural wind slab failure, likely from Sunday.