photos by Stephen Eginoire

Winter still reigns over the alpine landscape at the Senator Beck Basin study area, just north of Silverton on Red Mountain Pass. At this particular site, Chris Landry, executive director of the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, is examining the effect of desert dust deposition on the mountain snowpack. As water and climate change present critical issues in the West, Landrys observations are focused on developing snowmelt modeling tools for water management. For more information on the CSAS or the study, check out www.snowstudies.org.