Heavy new snow and wind on Castle Peak

We skied the NW trees on Castle peak this afternoon. Along the ridge, we encountered high winds and observed heavy snowfall throughout the tour. We kicked at many wind loaded test slopes along the ridge between Castle Pass and the NW trees but only saw very minor cracking. The slab in the wind deposits was very soft and uncohesive. In sheltered areas in the NW trees we observed ~14 inches fo new snow by 4pm. Numerous ski cuts and kicks on test slopes in sheltered areas did not show signs of cracking or collapses.