Snow and Wind on Incline Lake Peak

Light snow fell throughout the morning and into the early afternoon on Incline Lake Peak today.  Moderate winds were moving some snow. This wind loading was starting to build new shallow wind slabs and adding to existing cornices.  Ski kicks on wind-loaded test slopes produced minor cracking with limited propagation. The wind slabs we saw were still very soft with not much cohesion. Ski cuts on small steep rollovers in sheltered terrain did trigger small, fast-moving loose dry sluffs. We dug a snowpit and targeted the buried facet layer below the recent storm snow.  Snowpack tests showed some modest improvements in strength on this weak layer.  No known avalanches have been reported on this weak layer at this point.