Heavy Powderhouse Observation

I tried to time our tour for maximum new snow depth but before the temps increased midday and I almost nailed it. Leaving the car at Luther Pass just after noon our timing was good for max snow but maybe an hour late with regards to the temperature warm up. On shady north facing slopes we found good powder on the upper half of Powderhouse and increasingly heavy pow on the lower half. By the time were were on the very bottom of the exit skin track the snow was wet and very grippy. While the sky was mostly cloudy during our tour, when the clouds broke and direct sun hit, the heat was noticeable. Winds were strong for the entire climb. 

On the exposed summit ridge, I jumped on an obvious wind loaded feature and got cracks that propagated about 15 feet in one direction and maybe half that distance in the other direction. This was close to the maximum size of this wind slab. Once we dropped into the trees we didn't observe any other wind slab but as the snow became heavier due to warming temperatures I would have been concerned if we were on steeper terrain. Below about 8400 feet there are an increasing amount of lurking branches and rocks as well. 

Photo 1: Minor settlement cracks observed around trees.

Photo 2: Occasional glimpses of blue sky. 

Photo 3: A semi protected near treeline test slope with failure directly below my ski but no propagation.

Photo 4: This nearly flat slope on the summit ridge receives quite a bit of sun and the snow was heavy and grippy while more north facing slopes were still cold.

Photo 5: Impressive propagation on the this obvious wind loaded slope on the summit ridge.

Photo 6: More propagation