01 Feb - hot

It hit +3C at 1800m today, +8 at the base. Virtually no wind, clear skies and some visitors to Hakuba who wanted to see along the Happo ridge, so it was a good day to get out and sit right up close to the mountains from a low vantage point at 1700m where almost nobody ever sits. There was some soft-ish pockets here and there, with a lot of hard wind hammered snow everywhere else. Choices for the day included windloaded south aspects getting cooked to weakness under a strong sun, or wind scoured but shaded north aspects. Or a speculative hike higher along the ridge on a polished surface with exposed ice crust. The surface snow is hard and/or crust on most aspects and the coming storm may find some difficulty sticking to it. Rain lower down in the valley.