Corn Snow on Flagpole Peak

A frozen supportable melt-freeze and rain crust existed on the snow surface on all aspects on Flagpole Peak this morning. By 10 am the sun and warm temperatures had softened this crust, and 1 to 2 inches of soft wet snow existed on the surface of the sun-exposed NE-E-SE aspects below 7800 ft. This melting continued and by 11:30 deep wet snow existed on these aspects below 7800 ft. On the sun exposed aspects above 7800 ft. the melting occurred more slowly, and the slopes remained supportable with 1 to 2 inches of soft corn snow on the surface until around noon. On the N-NE aspects above 7800 ft, the snow surface remained firm and frozen until at least 11:45 am when we departed the area. Some small areas of recent snow existed on some of the N-NE aspects, but most of it had been scoured away. The few small wind slabs that existed near the summit of Flagpole were very small and shallow with the largest of these measuring only 3 to 4 inches in depth, about 6 -8 ft in width, and only extending 1 to 2 ft downhill. 

Photo 1: 2 inches of wet corn snow on top of a frozen supportable crust at 11 am on an E aspect at around 7500 ft. 

Photo 2: Very small wind slab bordering a wind-scoured icy rain crust on a NE aspect at 8200 ft. 

Photo 3 and 4: Shin deep unsupportable wet snow on an E aspect at 11:50 am at 7400 ft.