A mix of Warm and Cool on Castle Peak

Despite warm overnight temperatures, clear skies allowed a good refreeze on Castle Peak last night. Today, we measured the melt-freeze crust at 6-8 inches thick in most places above 8000 ft. Clouds and SW winds slowed the melt rate, and SW-W-NW aspects above 8000 ft remained firm until at least noon when we departed the area. 1-2 inches of soft wet snow had formed on the surface of the E-SE-S aspects in those areas by midday. We saw no signs of wet loose instability at these upper elevations. 

Below 8000 ft, the refreeze was much thinner and almost completely melted away by 11:30 am. When we stepped off our skis, we sank into shin-deep wet snow. Ski cuts on steep E aspects also triggered rollerballs and shallow sluffs of wet snow by 11:45 am.