Dust on Crust and Blowing Snow on Stoney Ridge

At the trailhead, we found about 2-3 cm (1-1.5 inches) of new snow resting on top of old frozen surfaces. Skinning up the hill we noticed that the crust below the new snow was supportable on the more sun-exposed SE aspects, but it was breakable on the N-NE aspects. We could also feel a thin layer of weak snow (facets) just below this upper crust. When there were breaks in the trees, we could see whitecaps on Lake Tahoe and plumes of snow blowing off of Jobs and Freel. We dug a snowpit on a N facing aspect and found some weak snow near the crusts at the top of the snowpack, but we did not find any lingering weakness deeper in the pack.

As soon as we got into slightly more exposed terrain we encountered a strong NE wind. We moved onto the ridge and saw snow blowing across the ridge and wind-scoured surfaces on the ridge. In leeward areas, small snowdrifts had formed. The largest one we saw was only about 5-10 cm (2-4 inches) deep and did not extend more than 60 cm (2 ft) away from the ridge (see photo). None of these were large enough to be problematic. Along the ridge, we found a mix of firm surfaces and wind effects. 

On the descent, conditions ranged from exposed firm crusts to dust on crust to dust on breakable crust.