Strong winds and warming on Signal Peak

Went to go see how the North bowl of Signal Peak was looking after the recent storm in hopes of finding some good turns. Weather stations from close by didn't indicate strong winds overnight or in the morning, but upon arriving at the trailhead flagging was easily seen from coming up over from the North bowl. When we reached the upper elevations winds were strong with intense rates of wind transport. Freshly formed drifts along the ridge were stubborn to test cuts, but we didn't venture farther downslope to where the real slabs may have existed. 

As we peered into the North bowl it was apparent that the winds were being funneled upslope from the bottom at a rapid rate and most of the terrain in the lowers had a good deal of cross loading and wind distribution going on in most of the features, while farther upslope was getting scoured down to some thin crust layer within the upper snowpack. There was a number of old crowns along the ridgelines and under cliffs up high from the last week's storms and old debris at the bottom.

We opted to explore around and find more sheltered terrain. We were able to ride good quality snow below treeline on lower angled slopes. Snow quality was good, but as the day went on temps rose rather quickly to well above freezing (~38-40F) and anything not due north quickly became more typical of "hot pow" and skins began to glop.