Minimal to no refreeze and snow/rain showers on Rubicon Peak.

Starting out from the trailhead a little above 6,900' it was apparent that no snow surface refreeze had occurred at the low and middle elevations last night on N and W aspects. Ascending through wet snow, a thin (less than 1 inch thick) surface crust from a weak refreeze last night was encountered at and above 8,100' on N aspects. Upon reaching the summit about 9,100' at 11 am, morning sun from prior to about 10:15 am had melted this thin weak crust on E aspects up to the summit while a thin weak breakable crust remained on N aspects. Descending E aspect terrain down to 7,900' occurred in deep wet snow conditions, necessitating the use of lower angle terrain. Ski cuts on steeper test slopes produced wet snow sluffing and larger rollerballs and pinwheels, indicating the presence of the loose wet avalanche problem.

Morning sunshine through partly cloudy skies gave way to full cloud cover around 10:15 am. By 10:30 am, light snow began to fall. Air temperatures were above freezing and this snow transitioned to rain as the lower atmosphere saturated shortly after 11 am.