Wind Transport on Incline Lake Peak

Wind transport was occuring at Incline Lake Peak today, but evidence of wind slabs was limited. 

As we climbed up the north aspect of Incline Peak we observed a re-filled skin track that suggested the wind was moving snow (Photo 1). When we got to the ridge we started looking for wind slabs and cornices. The cornices that traditionally form in this area are starting to build out, and we did see snow being blown over them (Photo 2). Cornice kicks and ski cuts on small inconsequential slopes resulted in limited cracking and no slab failures (Photo 3). We did not see any other signs of instability associated with wind slab avalanches.

In below treeline treeline North and Northeast facing terrain I dug 2 snowpits looking for the 12/6 surface hoar layer. I was able to identify a few surface hoar grains above a melt freeze crust in the pit located at provided lat/long (pin drop) but they were mostly decomposed (somewhat feather shaped grains but with rounded margins and no striations visible). Tests targeting this layer suggest that it is not currently reactive to loading (3x CTN) or likely to propagate (PST 76/100 SF). 

Skiing on north facing wind sheltered slopes was still soft, although re-frozen tree bombs and adequate-but still early season covearge kept us on our toes as we descended.