Wind Loading on Andesite Peak

Traveled to the ridge of Andesite Peak today to look for blowing snow and wind slabs. 

Approaching Andesite Peak on the East side our group observed soft snow surface in wind and sun protected areas. Mitt pits showed about a foot of softer snow overlying the buried 12/12 rain crust in this area. Informal observations suggested that this soft snow was somewhat faceted due to near surface faceting. Warm air temps and wind effect in some areas were making the surface snow variable in texture as we traveled upwards. 

As we reached the ridgetop we were able to observe obvious wind loaded pillows leeward of the ridgeline (Photo 1). Moderate wind with occasional strong gusts were obvoiusly transporting snow and loading this area as we were watching. A snowpit at this location found a 1F hard slab overlying softer snow made up of a combination of broken precip grains and faceted grains (Photo 2). Compression tests at this locaiton failed on isolation at the base of the wind slab. Test skiing an inconsequential slope resulted in shooting cracks of up to 30 feet long (Photo 3).

Descending the East aspect of Andesite we found variable snow conditions ranging from soft to tracked and tricky snow. Coverage in the creeks at the base of the slope is adequate but requires a bit of care to naviagate.