Cold and windy with variable surface conditions on Castle Peak.

We toured W and NW aspect terrain on Castle Peak today to have a look at recent drifting patterns. We saw very minimal recent wind slab formation and only up to 3 inches thick and 10'x10' at best. Skier triggered cracking of these tiny wind slabs was minimal. We saw only very occasional and isolated plumes of drifting snow.

Variable snow surface conditions were widespread both well below treeline and at treeline due to recent wind scouring (photo 1). Most slopes had been scoured with very little drifted deposition observed. A few well below treeline gully features held up to 2 inches of new snow with minimal previous wind effect. Otherwise, most other areas held breakable crust 0.5 to 1.5 inches thick (photo 2) either at the surface or under 1-3 inches of recent new or drifted snow.

Some dry low density F hard facets were observed below the surface crust, but with no significant new snow loading events on the horizon, this is not a current problematic weak layer (photo 3).