Warm sunny day on Carson pass

     A really calm beautiful day on Carson Pass, the temperature was around 55F and there was an occasional light breeze.The trail along the way was a mix of frozen packed snow, patches of dirt, areas of water, and snow patches that were breakable/supportable until 8600'. From there, (depending on aspect) snow was mostly supportable with punchy spots on the true northerly aspects where the melt freeze crust was not as strong. I dug a pit near Frog lake and found 60cm of total snow. The pit mostly consisted of crusts and faceted snow. A compression test did produce a Q1 shear below a crust about 15cm down. This crust was around 8cm thick and was the only slab component within the upper portion of the snowpack. The bottom 10cm of the snowpack was an almost impenetrable ice crust.Traveling out towards Elephants back, the snow mostly remained hard and supportable despite the sun and ambient temperatures at full strength for the day. Only In some areas snow was softening from solar radiation but was mostly on flat surfaces. Looking at the surrounding mountains it is clear and obvious we need some more snow as southerlies, such as Red Lake peak and Little Round Top are all rock and other aspects are losing ground, as drainages and marshy areas are abundant in flat areas. Snow coverage up higher near Ronud top looked like better coverage but shined from a distance from the frozen surface snow.