Virginia Lakes Area - Signs of Instability

We went for a tour in the Virginia lakes area today to survey the area post-storm and to get a sense of current instabilities. 

• Our recent storm systems over the last week have greatly improved coverage in the area.
• Intermittent snow showers continued throughout the day, with periodic glimpses of blue skies and waning snowfall rates.
• We observed several audible collapses while climbing a sparsely treed NE slope between 9,000' and 11,000'.  These collapses were associated with shooting cracks up to 20' in length in a few locations. 
• Recent wind deposits were reactive, moving towards stubborn on test slopes near treeline. We observed deposits from 4" - 15" thick. 
• Wind transport was impressive in the alpine today up and down the range. We were sure to avoid wind-loaded slopes capable of producing avalanches over size 1 in size. 
• Digging in on a north aspect around 9800', we found about 50 cm of new snow since 2/4. There was a series of crust layers from the Storm on 2/1, and about 1 meter of faceted snow below. Test results found propagation just above the rain crusts on a thin layer of buried near-surface facets.
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-Localized collapsing near and below treeline- -Reactive wind deposits 10-50 cm thick found on small test slopes near treeline- -Copious amounts of blowing snow and wind loading observed in the alpine-