Buried Surface Hoar on Tamarack Peak

I did a tour of the Tamarack Peak area looking for buried surface hoar today.  I picked 3 different locations at different elevation ranges and found very similar conditions at each snowpit site.  All locations were in open below treeline areas on northerly aspects with the published snowpit closer to near treeline terrain.  The buried surface hoar was easy to identify and find at all locations.  Size was in the 4-6mm range.  Snowpack tests showed some concern for this layer being problematic-see attached snowpit.  No other current signs of instabilities (no cracking, no whumpfing) were observed throughout this area today.

Cornice failures and wind slab avalanches were observed along the E Ridge of Tamarack Peak.  These were partially covered with additional snow and probably occurred towards the end of the storm on late Saturday or early Sunday morning.  Plenty of soft snow exists for wind transport if wind speeds increase tomorrow.