Increasing Winds and Clouds on Andesite Ridge

We went up Andesite Ridge today to look at lower elevation snow conditions and to practice our avalanche rescue skills.  It was mostly cloudy along the Sierra Crest with an occasional sun break this morning.  Winds aloft were moving clouds through the area with winds below 8000' in the light range with up to moderate gusts.  There are areas in near treeline terrain that have snow available for transport, although we did not observe any blowing snow through the morning hours.  The higher elevation terrain along Castle Peak that we could see has been previously wind scoured and burned off on windward slopes not allowing for much more than minimal snow transport even if the SW winds increased later today.  A few snowflakes fell from the sky, but that was about it up to mid-day.  We descended from 7800' to 7300' on a NE slope that had soft supportable snow conditions.  E-SE aspects that we encountered had sun and melt freeze crusts.

Today was a great day to get out and practice our avalanche rescue skills.  We practice multiple times throughout the early winter season.  It's great to get together with your partners or peers to refresh skills and make sure everyone is on the same page.