April 23
Location:
I started at Porter Fork ascending to the top of Gobblers
descending the southwest face, ascending to the top again and descending the nose out Porter.
Weather:
It was bluebird in the morning with a bit of south breeze along the ridge. Increasing clouds and a little more wind in the afternoon. Moderate to mild temperatures.
Snow:
I found a shallow refreeze at the base increasing in depth with ascent. Ski crampons were used to ascend the face in the morning. The melt off was timely as I descended southwest facing about 11:30 on a softened surface. The climb back up indicated a somewhat shallow refreeze, with localized collapsing under the 3-4 inches that had frozen. Pole penetration was around a foot in the area. The northwest face was still refrozen at the summit continuing down about 500 vertical before finding the softening. The increasing clouds eliminated the sun, hampering a melt off. Supportable snow was found on the exit to the trail. Lower elevations had thawed and had some isolated unsupportable areas, mainly in tree cover.
I had a look at the Broads, Mill B south and Mineral areas from the ridge. Activity in Mineral and Mill B was limited to surface point release and sluffing. A new glide slide was noted in Broads with a photo page describing the activity here.
Bottom Line:
Continued clear skies provided another refreeze, although shallow. Wet activity has been fairly minimal with in recent snow layering. Current weather forecast indicates a continuance of that pattern.