Blue Couloir, Mammoth Crest

Toured up the Blue Couloir on the E end of the Mammoth Crest from the Tamarack cross country trails, back down the same way. Very warm with a poor refreeze overnight: Mammoth Pass reported nominally freezing temps for three hours last night, air temps today ranged from 8-10 deg C before 11am all the way up to 11,200'. Every aspect and elevation observed had transitiioned to spring corn snow except isolated wind slabs near the crest that formed from northerly winds on the 20th, which are well bonded now and have a stout melt-freeze crust on top with dry near surface facets below. All sun exposed areas below ~10,000' had softened to good corn with a supportable melt-freeze crust about 5cm below the surface by 1030am. Areas that were very sheltered were still frozen with a breakable 1F melt-freeze crust. Most snow above 10,000' was still frozen and P hard until about 1130am. E aspects and areas with open tree cover or near rocky areas thawed first, then S aspects and open slopes. Densely treed areas remained colder longer. Only very small rollerballs and wet sluffs from E facing test slopes at 10,000' around 1030am. Lots of evidence of recent rollerballs and D1 loose wet avalanches along the crest. The freshest evidence of wet instabilities was on northerly, higher elevation slopes which only warmed up recently.