Observations from Becker/Talking Ridge

We went out to Becker/Talking Ridge to search for some soft unconsolidated snow from last week's storms.  Temperatures were very warm, even by mid morning, with sunny skies and calm winds.  The normal ridge route had large sections of snow that had melted out on the south facing aspects through the burn section.  Evidence of some recent NE wind scouring was present on some of the more wind exposed sections of ridgeline with other areas protected by denser trees.  North aspects held settled storm snow on the upper sections of steeper shaded terrain.  As we entered areas with sun exposure or some areas under tree drippings, snow surface conditions were more wet and variable.  The unconsolidated snow remained good on shaded aspects to around 7800' where less steep terrain and sun exposure made for slow and sticky snow conditions.  We experienced some small minor roller balls on some of these northerly aspects while descending and did not see any other signs of instabilities.