Snow conditions in Rock Creek

Toured to the top of Pointless Peak today to see how solar aspects were softening up with the warm weather. 

Parking below East Fork campground at 0910, air temp was 31 degrees F and warming quickly. Clear skies and no wind throughout the day. Touring up Rock Creek road, the east facing moraine above the road had patchy coverage, with more solar aspects bare in many spots.

We arrived at the Pack Station (10,000 ft) at 1050. Snow exposed to the sun was beginning to melt at this elevation, while snow in the shaded trees was mostly facets under a thin crust. We ascended the E-NE facing gully on Pointless Peak. Snow conditions varied quite a bit depending on aspect. More NE facing slopes had a wind crust with deep facets below. East facing slopes in the gut of the gully were edgable but firm (ski crampons helped alot), while slightly more SE aspects were melting and spring like. Coverage was mostly good enough, with one small choke that required slide slipping on the way down. 

In the lower part of the gully was evidence of an old slide (>1 week), maybe from the last small snow and subsequent big wind event. We observed no other signs of instabilities today and no roller balls while descending. The ski down was surprsingly good, mostly spring like conditions.