Wind transport and poor viz at Horse Meadow

4"-6" of new snow covering old tracks along the ride in from Luther Pass, and significant wind transport even down low and on tree covered slopes. While close to Hope Valley, predominant winds were from the SW and funnelled up through Horse Meadow. Towards Job's, winds seemed to shift and come downslope from the NE. This resulted in complex wind distribution patterns. Small to medium sized wind drifts in unexpected places by mid-day, and surface snow became noticeably denser as we got onto more wind exposed slopes with increased elevation. However, no cracking or other signs of instability were observed except with hand shears in the top 4" of new snow.

In open areas, I checked under the storm snow to look for buried surface hoar, and couldn't find it. However, conditions made snowpack analysis challenging. I'm more confident that I found a lower density partial graupel layer with several mitt pits. Not enough new snow on top of this yet for formal tests, but hand shears indicated this could be a problematic layer with more snow on top of it.

By 2pm, snowfall rates increased to S2, winds increased, and visibility decreased, prompting our departure.