Mt. Judah Observations

I went to Mt Judah in the Donner Summit area to see if any snow was softening with the warming temperatures and sunny skies.  A thin rain crust exists throughout this area up to the top of Mt. Judah at 8200'.  Firm skinning conditions exist from the rain crust and all the refrozen tree drippings in treed areas on shaded aspects.  Sunny aspects warmed up quickly.  A thin layer of surface hoar has been deposited on top of the rain crust last night.  This surface hoar is dispersed pretty well throughout all elevations and was even along the Judah ridge.  Some of this surface hoar has a pretty good chance of getting buried tomorrow, although with minimal amounts of snow forecasted it might not be a concern.  Sun exposed S and E aspects that were wind scoured, but smooth, offered good travel conditions.  Once down below the wind compacted areas, snow surface conditions turned more punchy and wet.  A test pit dug at 7800' on a N aspect on Mt. Judah looked at the upper 80cms of snowpack.  No layers of concern were found with 2x ECTN's.