East winds on Castle

We toured castle today looking for soft snow.  As expected, we encountered strong East winds along the castle pass ridgetop.  At times the wind was strong enough to make standing and skinning challenging.  Some blowing snow could be seen on the top of castle peak, but it appears most areas have very little soft snow available to transport.  We found spring-like conditions on South and SW aspects in protected gullies off the ridgetop.  Surface melt was limited to the top 1" of the snowpack, and no signs of wet loose problems were observed.  In protected and shaded areas below treeline we found areas of surface hoar and near surface facets that provided soft skiing conditions.  Punchy melt freeze crusts have developed in areas with solar exposure.  Heads up for the many downed branches that are starting to appear near the snow surface from our early January winds.