Sun on New Snow on Andesite Peak

While the temperature felt cold when I started up Andesite, I warmed up quickly once the sun hit me. The snow also started to warm up quickly. I could trigger small roller balls and pinwheels that entrained the top few inches of the new snow on sunny slopes by 10:30 am. These small signs of wet snow instability grew more widespread by noon when I left the area. At that time, ski cuts on a small, steep, SE-facing test slope at 7600 ft caused the new snow to sluff off of the old crusts and slide downhill.

Above 7800 ft, I found plenty of signs of wind-loading during the storm: ripples on the snow surface, pillows of wind-drifted snow, and scoured icy surfaces on the west (windward) side of the ridge. I kicked on a few test slopes and only triggered cracking in those I had previously undercut. I also dug into the snow and performed some snowpack tests. These tests did not indicate obvious signs of instability (3 ECTNs).