Warming Snow and Varible Conditions on Lincoln Ridge

Cold air temperatures and the intense April sun have left variable snow conditions on Lincoln Ridge. A weak sun crust had formed on the top of the new snow in places exposed to the sun yesterday, while shady areas still held about 6-8 inches of cold soft snow. A thick refrozen crust existed below the storm snow everywhere we traveled. As it warmed up today, the recent snow started to get wet, but we did not see more than a few small rollerballs and pinwheels on sunny slopes before we left the area at 1 pm. 

Large cornices still exist along Lincoln Ridge, and we could see debris from old cornice collapses below some of these cornices. The SW winds had also loaded the slopes below these cornices. We investigated several wind-loaded test slopes with ski kicks and hand pits. These tests and observations did reveal signs of instability, nor did we see any recent wind slab avalanches in the area. The wind had scoured all of the storm snow off many SW-facing slopes and ridges, exposing firm melt-freeze crusts.