Warming and light winds in Johnson canyon

We toured up the west side of Donner ridge from Johnson canyon today. Light wind transport was observed near the top of the ridge as well as evidence of wind transport on the snow surface however, we did not observe any wind slabs in this area. As we descended around 1230 snow was warming and getting heavier particularly at elevations below 7000ft. A quick snow pit on the way out (6500ft, south facing below treeline terrain) failed at the interface between recent storm snow and the Jan 4th rain layer without propagation (ECTN, 28 hits).