Lower Elevation Softening on Mt. Judah

We toured in the Mt. Judah area to see if snow surface warming was occurring into the midday.  A variety of firm wind scoured snow surfaces exist on most aspects including many areas scoured down to previous rain crust.  There are few locations left that still had some sort of soft snow on the surface, mainly in northerly wind protected below terrain areas.  These areas were mostly patchy and we did not see any consistent soft snow.  The exposed rain crust is firm and slippery and we used ski crampons for some sections while ascending to aid with traction and avoid falling.  At the top of the South Face of Judah, conditions did not look very appealing.  As we descended though, the snow surface softened and became more smooth providing good spring corn snow conditions from about 7800' and below.   Clouds increased into the midday which may have decreased the softening process on some slopes, especially at higher elevations.  All aspects besides these south aspects remained firm and variable through the midday.