Variable areas of supportable vs deep wet snow during the morning hours.

We toured the SW ridge of Castle Peak and Andesite Peak this morning. Conditions in terms of supportable refreeze vs deep wet snow were quite variable. Previously compacted areas on the approach were firm as expected. Traveling off of these compacted areas revealed the poor refreeze from last night and the residual deep wet snow just below the surface. Slopes at and above treeline with lots of exposure to previous winds were fairly ski supportable, more so than expected. However, stepping off of skis still produced deep boot penetration even in areas that looked firm.

Once we got back down to mid slope on an ENE aspect around 7,900' at 11 am, we encountered the expected deep, unsupportable, wet snow conditions. Here we triggered numerous pinwheels, one of which got up to 4 feet in diameter before breaking apart. Conditions on this particular slope were ripe for a wet loose avalanche.