Blowing snow on Mt. Judah

We toured up the north side of Mt. Judah today and saw light to moderate blowing snow in exposed areas near and above treeline. Winds varied between SW and SE depending on where we were throughout the day, and were lighter than expected, with only moderate winds even on top of the summit ridgeline. Sky cover was broken to overcast and there was no precipitation until very light snowfall began as we were leaving the area around 16:30. 

On our ascent we saw minor cracking in soft wind-blown snow near and above treeline, and upon digging on the east side of the Judah-Donner Peak saddle (pin drop location), we observed multiple sudden CTM results on a layer of faceted grains about 25cm beneath the surface. One extended column test gave ECTN 15 on this same layer. The Dec 12 rain crust was visible about 15-20cm below this.