The low clouds are rare condensation clouds which do not last more than 20 minutes and occur from 30 to 100 feet above the crest. Thin stratus and stratocumulus clouds are above. In the foreground are the Alabama Hills, the oldest known remnants of a mountain range. In the foreground is crystalline-settling snow with four suncrusts. The uppermost crust is covered with three inches of sand snow, with a density of from four to eight percent.
Crystals are from cirrus and altostratus clouds.
Ice-lace underneath the cornice and to the left of stream flow. The wind-slab snow in the shadow on the right is the first phase in the formation of desiccated snow. An avalanche and wind action has created this basin of partially recrystallized drift snow, which is approximately 20 feet deep. Arctic willows in the foreground are seldom found in the Sierra Range. Mono County Found on the sides and crest of the ice-carved canyon are remnant banks of seasonal snow.