Rain crust and wet conditions at Tragedy Springs.

 Sunny blue bird skies with warm conditions in Tragedy Springs. Getting out of the truck one could see and hear the snow and ice melting anywhere the sun touched the trees. At periods the melt was so intense it sounded like it was raining outside. With our feet on the snow there was a very widespread hard rain crust across the entire landscape. This crust is well developed and was the strongest in shaded areas. It was thick and sharp like glass and It was nearly impossible to travel down hill through this crust. In shaded protected areas I did see some small angulated crystals starting to grow on top of the crust. Underneath this crust was soft unconsolidated snow, which allowed for boot top penetration. As the sun rose higher and the day warmed up, the crust broke down and was a wet compressible surface that allowed for downhill travel. However, we were still contained to only specific sunny areas that provided enough solar radiation to soften the crust. Snowboard turns were smooth and creamy and did not display any loose wet activity. Later in the afternoon as the snow continued to soften on solar aspects pinwheels and roller balls were observed on steeper features within the terrain. I also observed other pinwheels and loose wet debris on the drive down Carson pass on S. aspects above Red Lake.