Wet Snow on Mt. Rose

We went to Mt. Rose to get a look at high-elevation NE aspects and sunny E-SE-S aspects. We had to ascend some SE-S facing slopes between 7600 and 8200 ft. Snow coverage on these slopes was patchy at best. We had to hike up these slopes on the climb and had to take off our skis and walk down sections of dirt on the way back down later in the day. 

We made it up onto more E-facing slopes and found continuous snow coverage. We also found wet snow on these sunny E aspects at 10 am. Small snowballs would roll down the slope and gather snow into pinwheels. These grew to 1.5 ft in diameter before breaking apart. We rounded the corner onto a NE-facing slope and found colder snow. We could feel the old weak snow below the surface with our poles, so we stopped to dig a pit and take a closer look. The facets were still there but our tests did not show any signs of instability associated with those weak layers. When I squeezed the facets in my hand they would clump together a little bit. 

There were wind-scoured areas on exposed slopes near the ridge at 10,000 ft and areas where the winds had stripped all of the snow away leaving the bare ground exposed. 

We started descending at 12:30. The snow on the NE aspects was wet and sticky in most places by this time. Only a few patches of dry cold snow still remained in the most shaded spots. The E aspects held wet snow that had not quite transitioned to corn.