Blowing Snow on Andesite Peak

We toured the Andesite Peak area today to look at new wind slab development and the buried crusts and faceted snow in the upper snowpack.  Snow transport continued from the moderate to strong SW winds today.  Windward slopes are scoured with new wind slabs 3-6'' deep in wind loaded terrain.  Cracking occurred in the most wind loaded areas, but these small wind slabs were non reactive today to ski kicks and cornice drops.  Light snow transport continued into the afternoon.

2 separate snowpits were dug to look at the Jan 4 rain crust and the faceted snow around this crust.  Both snowpits showed similar conditions with faceted snow above and below the Jan 4 rain crust.  Snowpacks tests showed limited results with poor shear quality of the potential weak layers.