Big Blue

The field team ventured into the Big Blue area. We encountered widespread wind effect along our route as well as in all surrounding visible alpine and treeline terrain. This included large wind drifts, scoured areas, hard wind packed areas, and sastrugi. The ~10cm of recent storm snow has been redistributed by the wind in exposed areas, and preserved in sheltered areas. But alas, the Big Blue valley itself seems to have escaped recent winds! About 10cm of recent storm snow is well preserved there. Beneath this the old hard wind surfaces have mostly faceted out. The result is a glorious 60cm of powder and facets on the surface which makes for fun sledding. Measured height of snow in Big Blue valley at 1100m ranged from 60 to 150cm. At noon at 1145m the temperature was -9.9 C, skies were clear and sunny, with a light wind from the NorthEast. Photos show the wind effect on our way into Big Blue as well as the preserved storm snow/facet conditions once in Big Blue.