Supportable Snow and Inconsistent Results on Castle Peak

We went to Castle Peak today to try and gauge the distribution of the current persistent weak layer and to visit some wind-loaded test slopes to see how the wind slabs that formed in the storm are changing. As we started our tour we noticed that the winds were calm and we could not see evidence of wind transport along the higher ridgelines. We continued up and noted how supportable the storm snow was. We also did not feel as dramatic a change between the old snow and the new snow as we probed into the snowpack with our poles.

As we got above 8200 ft, we did notice more of a softer layer near the bottom of the snowpack so we stopped to dig into the snowpack and get more information. Our snowpit did find a softer weaker layer of snow near the ground and we did get an unstable test result on that layer (ECTP 23 @ 39.3649, -120.3588 - see map in the images). We dug another pit near 8900 ft. and found the old snow near the ground to be more consolidated. Tests in this pit did not yield unstable results (see full pit attached to this ob).

Along the Castle Peak ridge, we found several wind-loaded test slopes but they did not exhibit any signs of instability. When we looked over into the north bowl of Castle we did see some evidence of cornice collapse, some partially buried debris, and a small possible wind slab crown from some time during the storm. Due to its distance and the snow covering part of it we could not tell for sure. We also tested several wind-loaded test slopes on Andesite Peak on the way back to the car and did not find any signs of instability on those slopes either.