Observations from Castle Peak

We toured the Castle Peak area on day 1 of an AIARE course.  The winds were gusting strongly even below the treeline and in sheltered areas. The accumulation was estimated to be S5+ as our skin track was nearly filled in after only two hours. We had interesting results in our pit test with ECTX but CTH propagated 30 CM down on a clear layer of graupel. When we returned to the cars at 14:30 our cars were buried. Ski quality was nothing to write home about. We chose low-angle terrain and were not able to make any turns in the dense snow. Our high point of the day was only 7,600 ft.