Despite a mild inversion and overnight temperatures not much below freezing at some 11,000' weather stations, we found solid crusts and cold well-frozen surfaces at all elevations in the morning. And even with the intense heat of recent days, there's still some cold snow out there. In a hasty pit I dug on a steep, shaded, north-facing slope below treeline I found a totally dry snowpack, with a thin melt-freeze crust on the surface. And in the alpine, the high norths are holding cold snowpacks that are a long way from undergoing their Spring transition. But, these pockets of dry snow are becoming more and more scarce under the intense San Juan sunshine. Elsewhere, like at lower elevations and on slopes that catch the sun, stout melt-freeze crusts are widespread with meltwater moving through the snowpack. In a lot of places, the meltwater has already made it down to the bottom and moistened the entire snowpack to the ground. Without solid freezes in the coming nights, these below treeline, mushy, "trapdoory" snowpacks will be the most concerning to travelers, with potential for Wet Loose avalanches to gouge to the ground.

"Around the World" to Ophir Peak and down into Swamp Canyon.

Loose Wet avalanches on South Lookout Peak.

The snowpack is a-changing, folks. But, it's slower to change in the places where the sun don't shine. We found some soft wind-ripple in the alpine, and some punchy but unreactive "windskins" on windward features, but otherwise we found mostly rock solid melt-freeze crusts that broke down and softened throughout the morning. Today, east-facing terrain was perfectly ripe around 11am, and I bet that time will get earlier in the coming days. And by 11:30am, we starting punching through and sinking into the isothermal snowpack as we exited lower-elevation east-facing slopes. Timing it early will be key in the coming days.

Clear skies, temperatures in the 20s, rising to the 40s by midday. Steady westerly breezes kept the alpine cool in the morning.