Variable Firm Surfaces on Mt. Judah

I expected to find variable snow conditions on Mt. Judah similar to those seen around the rest of the forecast area. It did not disappoint. Shady slopes held a mix of scoured surfaces, patches of soft snow, and crusts. Those patches of soft snow only existed on open, N-facing slopes completely sheltered from the wind that also have not seen any traffic during January. Needless to say, these soft areas were few and far between. That soft snow is comprised of snow that is slowly weakening (faceting) over time. A thin rain crust also exists within the few inches of soft surface snow. Aside from the few patches of soft snow, the vast majority of snow surfaces I encountered were firm.

The winds lived up to the weather forecast. The cold NE and E winds remained strong during my tour. On the summit ridge of Mt. Judah, I had to lean into the wind, and gusts would push me around. I quickly left the summit ridge and returned to more sheltered terrain. These strong winds and cold air temperatures kept the snow surfaces frozen on all the sunny slopes I traveled on through my departure around 1 pm.