Ridgetop winds at Ward Canyon

Toured in the Ward Canyon area along the Sierra Crest today looking for evidence of wind loading and wind transport, and to get a look at the reported cornice fall avalanche in the area from 12/15 (see separate avalanche report).

The winds at ridgetop were blowing out of the East through most of the day and trasporting snow was visible in many areas (Photo 1). Mostly Moderate wind speeds sometimes increasing to Strong made for chilly conditions. Wind loading was variable along the ridgetop- some areas on W and NW aspects had loading up to 1 foot deep with 4F hard slabs forming, and some areas were stripped down to the rain crust. No wind slabs encountered showed anything more than cracking right below skis, or showed any signs of slab propagation. Where we could safely access loaded terrain on E and NE aspects we did not observe cracking or signs of propagation. Travel was challenging as the soft snow-rain crust interface was tricky to side-hill on. 

When we got to the central portion of the ridge between Grouse Rock and Twin Peaks we were able to see many medium to large size cornices well built out and overhanging the steep and complex terrain below. Photo 2 shows one of the many cornices growing in this area. The ridgetop in this area is convoluted with lots of wind scouring and pillowing that makes for tricky travel. 

Once off the ridgetop the wind effect was much less pronounced, and the snow was less wind effected than we thought it would be. Widespread surface hoar was present in wind protected areas on NW, N, NE, and E aspects. Photo 4 shows near treeline surface hoar on a NW aspect that appears to be rimed, Photo 5 shows large surface hoar (12-15mm) from E facing below treeline terrain.