Observations from Angora Peak

We wanted to look at a mix of sunny and shady slopes to see how the snow continues to change during this dry spell. We chose Angora Peak for its variety of aspects and good sun exposure combined with decent snow coverage. We started skinning in the burned area on Angora Ridge. This mostly SE-facing slope held firm conditions this morning due to a solid overnight refreeze. As we ascended the ridge, we passed through the temperature inversion into warmer areas where the surface snow had softened by 11:30 am. Once we got up to Angora Lakes, we stopped to look at the SE-S aspects of Angora to see where continuous snow existed for the descent. After identifying a line of snow that we expected to remain sunny, we moved over to the NE side to climb up the peak. A mix of snow surfaces like soft cold snow, firm snow, wind-scoured snow, and other wind-affected snow existed on the NE side of Angora. Some more E and ENE facing slopes also had a thin melt-freeze crust on the surface. 

We made it to the top of our skin track and traversed back onto the sunny SE-S facing side of the mountain. We found soft wet snow in the areas that were still sunny. Portions of the slope that had gone into the shade had already started to refreeze at 1:30 pm. Ski cuts on some steeper sections of the decent only triggered small rollerballs. By the time we got back to the lower ridge in the burn area, soft wet snow had formed on the surface there as well.