A solid trace of new snow fell overnight, and temperatures in the teens when we arrived at the overlook in the early afternoon were warming in the afternoon, with pleasant conditions in the sun. The simple snowpack on east-facing slopes consisted of very loose faceted snow from January, which continues to weaken with the current cold temperatures, capping a solid layer of rain-saturated snow from December.
A half-melted snowman, with its back to the sun, illustrates the snow conditions... We found nice, soft traveling conditions on slopes facing the northern half of the compass. Sun or melt-freeze crusts and treacherous, breakable crusts of various thicknesses are found in sunny terrain. Some of these crusts are particularly weak, and they all sit on top of very loose sugary or faceted snow.
It's always great to get out in the mountains and into the mahoganies above Bear Lake on a nice day.
