Still Good Coverage on East Aspects on Andesite

We found firm surfaces and ice at the trailhead this morning indicating a good refreeze last night. Very bumpy, uneven snow surfaces exist on the well-traveled areas heading up towards Castle Pass. We looked over at the SW side of Castle Peak and saw lots of exposed ground, so we opted to explore the east-facing slopes on Andesite Peak. Coverage on these slopes remains good and smooth surfaces still exist on the open east aspects. By 10:30 am 1-2 inches of wet surface snow had formed on the sunny slopes. The 6-8 inch thick melt-freeze crust below the wet surface snow remained supportable. More wet snow existed below that crust. We ski cut slopes and did not trigger any signs of wet snow instability before our departure at 11 am. We also did not see any signs of recent rollerballs, pinwheels, or wet loose avalanches.

An impressive amount of debris exists on the snow surface in the forested areas.