Quick report
We went out to assess conditions in the VA Lakes area and look for any evidence of wet snow avalanche problems. Conditions are a mixed bag of mostly melt freeze surfaces (some very smooth and pleasant to ski and others a rough mix of sastrugi/penetente in some form of melt freeze). The surface freeze overnight was extremely minimal and was realistically gone by 10. Some cold snow existed on steep northerlies above 11000’. We dug a pit on a NE slope at 10600’ to assess liquid water at the 2/10 interface. It was down roughly 80cm in our pit and the 2/10 layer and below consisted of small, moist rounding facets. From the surface down to this layer was a complex of ice crusts and melt forms. We observed no signs of instability during our tour despite excessively hot temperatures.