Virginia Lakes

Today we toured up to 10,500 Ft on an East aspect above Red Lake in the Virgina Lakes basin. The storm that passed through over the weekend brought the snowline down to valley floors along Highway 395 and fresh snow to the Sweetwater and White Mountains to the East. On our tour, we caught small breaks of sunshine however the day felt cold and stormy for most of the day with intense periods of blowing snow. The East aspect we were on remained mostly sheltered from the intense wind, however the other prominent peaks in the area had wind ribbons of blown snow and active loading was observed. We dug in the snow at 10,500, and we did not find the basal faceting at the base in this location. The big take home was rapid loading, fresh wind slabs, and breaks in the upper snowpack in our pit from the slab snow on the surface.  

We found some shelter on an east aspect above Red Lake in the Virginia Lakes basin today. Lots of wind and blowing snow, Intense at times. Toured up to 10,500 ft on an east aspect. Pit data showed some inconsistent results outside of the obvious wind slab formation on the surface. Basal facet layer not present where we dug.  Average depth in the area: 120cm's.