Wet Snow and Large Cornices in Johnson Canyon

I chatted with someone who had just returned to the parking lot after a morning tour as soon as I parked in Johnson Canyon. He talked about firm and icy surfaces on all aspects earlier that morning and stated that things had barely started to soften by 10 am when we met. I started up on S-facing slopes, and by 11 am, an inch of wet snow had formed on top of a supportable crust. The wet snow had not been through enough melt-freeze cycles to become full "corn" snow yet, and it was still a bit sticky for skis. It seemed to provide just enough soft snow for snowmobiles to get traction and cool themselves. When I got up to the steeper part of the ridge at 11:30 am, the warming had accelerated, and now 2-4 inches of wet snow existed on the surface. I ski-cut the top of a few steep SE-facing test slopes and caused ski-width wide sluffs of wet snow to slide down them. I also found some small cornices above small test slopes, and these broke easily when I kicked near them. I continued onto more N-NE-facing terrain over the ridge and found some small wind-loaded test slopes. Tests on these slopes did not reveal any lingering signs of instability. Upon returning to the top of the ridge, the SW wind had picked up but was not transporting any snow.