Additional Snow on Castle Peak

Toured the Castle and Andesite Peak areas today.  8'-10'' of new storm snow is in this location from the last 2 days.  Light snowfall fell throughout the morning hours and tapered off with warming temperatures through the day.  At the higher elevations near the peak that received wind scouring, dust on crust conditions existed.  Unconsolidated cold snow was in most near and below treeline areas. 

Ski cutting small test slopes and kicking cornices did not show any signs of unstable wind slabs or storm slabs.  Very minor cracking around skis was limited to one location for the whole day.  Loose dry sluffing was common on steep terrain and would run fast downslope, but did not entrain much snow.  Several hand pits throughout the day showed overall good bonding to the old snow surface.  Snow available for future wind transport is present on ridges if winds do increase over the next couple days.