Elephant's back Zone

     Started at the top of Carson pass around 11:00am, skies were clear, temps were well above freezing and the wind was blowing out of the SW. Snow along the trailhead had a variety of textures and feel. There was hard melt freeze crusts in the shade and snow was softening from the sun in the flats. Snow on the ridge line of W-SW aspects behind Elephant's Back only softened a little as winds blew all the way to the summit @ 9600'. Around 1300, snow on SE-S facing slopes did begin to soften up and made for good skiing all the way down to 8000'. We did ski in steeper terrain and did not have roller balls or wet snow movement upon our descent. There was no active signs of any movent on solar aspects as we traveled throughout the day. On the way out, I noticed that SW-S-SE-E aspects are starting to expose more rocks, bushes, and tree tops below 9000'. I probed 160cm of total snow in the flats at the base of Elephant's Back proper. Around 1500, winds were still blowing with moderate speeds but shifted and was blowing now from the NW. No transporting of snow was witnessed at anytime in the day. We made our final descent on a W-NW aspect @8500' and snow was just softening up but not very deep. Skies remained clear and solar raditation was abundant throughout the day!