Virginia Lakes

We went for a quick tour in the Virginia Lakes area and found slowly softening surface conditions and quickly dwindling snow coverage.  We did not encounter any signs of wet snow instability.

Virginia Lakes snotel showed an overnight low of 31 F, compared to the low to mid 40s during recent heat wave. This helped keep surfaces firm and supportable for a longer period of time this morning. Light breezes also helped slow the thaw today, with high clouds delaying softening in morning but maybe contributing to minor greenhousing effect by midday. We descended an ENE facing slope at noon at found the snow surface just soft enough to be enjoyable.

Overall, the drainage is melting out fast and travel involves navigation around open streams and non continuous snow.