Varying degrees of established melt-freeze on Rose Knob Peak.

We toured Rose Knob Peak this morning. Melt-freeze conditions were encountered across solar aspects, but the thickness of the surface melt-freeze layer varied considerably by aspect. True S aspects held established melt freeze conditions consisting of the top 6 to 8 inches of the snowpack. Moving away from true S aspects to the SE or SW revealed a much thinner, less established melt-freeze surface layer, often as little as the top 2 inches of the snowpack. Melt-freeze conditions were most well established below about 8,800'.

For the most part, supportable snow surface conditions were widespread across E-SE-S aspects in the 7,400' to 9,700' elevation range that we traveled. Only in a couple of isolated areas did I break through the surface melt-freeze layer and down into older, colder snow below. In areas where recent NE winds had drifted and deposited snow, melt-freeze conditions were much less established.

The shaded ENE aspect terrain we traveled had predictably escaped any prior snow surface melt and had been affected by recent NE winds.