ESAC Forecaster - Virginia Lakes - fresh snow, loose sluffs and some wind affects

-I observed about 20 cm (8 in) of new low-density snow in the Virginia Lakes area today. -Man, it's nice to slide on fresh snow again, but I did manage to find my fair share of freshly hidden rocks. Beware, the sharks are still hungry! -Winds were surprisingly light this morning, though they did increase to moderate speeds by mid-afternoon near treeline. (above 10000') -Temps were very cold today. Remaining in the mid-teens throughout my tour. -Dry Loose sluffs were easy to initiate on steep slopes near and below treeline today. I suspect the same would be true at higher elevations for most of the --morning before the wind speeds increased. -Isolated cracking was observed along my tour in two scenarios. --The first was in areas where facet crust combos below the new snow broke in chunks around my skis while skiing up an NE-facing slope near the treeline. While this was not concerning today it may indicate the type of structure that could become concerning in the future. --The second area where I observed surface cracking was on a cross-loaded gully feature near the treeline on an NE-facing slope. This was a small area of wind-stiffened snow with shooting cracks up to 6' or so. The "slab" was about 4" thick and 4f hard over F hard new snow with a knife hard wind board below at the new/old interface.

ESAC Forecaster - Virginia Lakes - fresh snow, loose sluffs and some wind affects

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