Heavy snow and wind loading near Silver Peak

Toured up to knoll below Silver Peak to observe wind loading and any persistent slab activity up higher on Silver Peak. While visibility was low and we were unable to see the summit of Silver Peak, we did observe strong winds along ridgetops. Throughout the tour we noticed a heavy increase in snowfall rate as we gained elevation, observing around 6-8 inches of new snow in the long meadow below the knoll around 7,200'. We did not observe any whumphing or shooting cracks in the meadow. The snow was very think, heavy, and sticky, and the ski out back to hwy 89 on the Pole Creek Road, which is typically skied without minimal pushing was very sticky and required frequent pushing with poles. 

We did do some quick hand pits around 7,200' and observed a thick rain crust  from the 12/11 rain event with sugary faceted snow beneath, and a much harder/stronger layer of new snow compared to the weak faceted layer above the rain crust.