Wind Slabs on Andesite

Storm totals in the Andesite Peak area totaled 10 to 12''.  Snow continued through the morning as cells moved in with snow then breaks of broken sky conditions.  We found wind slabs up to 2.5 to 3' deep in near treeline wind loaded areas.  Reactive wind slab instabilities were focused on a buried graupel layer within the storm snow that 8-10'' wind slabs were failing on.  We intentionally triggered a D1 wind slab avalanche on a test slope with a small cornice drop.  Other areas showed similar characteristics of wind slab instabilities with cracking and propagation. Moderate to strong SW winds continued through the morning moving snow and refilling our tracks.  Storm slabs did not show any signs of instabilities in below treeline areas.  The graupel layer that was causing the wind slabs failure in near treeline areas did not seem to be an issue below treeline.  Small loose dry sluffing occurred on steeper slopes >35 degrees.