Abstract: Snow is a key component in cryosphere, which plays a significant role in global energy and water cycles. The development of space-borne remote sensing techniques on monitoring snow cover and status distribution with high temporal and spatial resolution will benefit water resource management，economic growth，and social stability of cold areas. To date snow cover area can be identified using high resolution optical sensor from the space, and physical properties of snow pack can be retrieved from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite observations. However, the accuracy of identification and retrieval is adversely affected by topography in mountainous areas. To improve the suitability of identification and retrieval models, two field experiments dedicated to snow remote sensing were conducted during the winter of 2013 and the spring of 2014 over a study area of Manas River Basin on north face of the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang Province. Intensive in-situ spectral and snow properties sampling were carried out coincident with the coverage of satellite observations. The objectives, methodology, and preliminary results of these two field experiments are presented in this paper. The preliminary results show a significant heterogeneous distribution and seasonal variation of snow in the study area, and the potential of using high resolution remote sensing techniques to capture the temporal and spatial variability of mountainous snow.