Intense snow and wind at Elephant's Hump

Wet new snow and very high winds from the NW observed at Elephant's Hump today. I looked in several places where I thought surface hoar might have existed prior to the new precip, and couldn't find any. Because visibility was terrible, I also did snowpack tests that should have revealed the surface hoar layer, with no results. Surprisingly, no unstable results within the new storm snow either.

The winds were out of the NW, so I was unable to use the N facing slopes above Red Lake to observe wind loading. There was significant wind transport observed - just not loading the slopes I had access to today.

At around 11:30AM, temperatures dropped noticeably, and snowfall and wind intensity increased significantly. We turned back, and our tracks from just 30 minutes earlier were completely filled in.

Pic 1: Before the storm intensified, and while we were still low in elevation, we found recent roller ball activity. Temperatures dropped shortly after taking this photo.

Pic 2: The most recent rain layer was easy to find below 8100ft (no results on snowpack tests). Between 8100ft and 8200ft, this layer got thinner and more difficult to see. Above 8200ft I could not find it.

Pic 3: Wet and windy spackle on the trees and also on the snow surface. Ski penetration was minimal, in a good way - easy travel and fun turns on low angle terrain, and little concern about breaking through to rocks and stumps.