Natural Hard Wind Slab Avalanche on Lincoln Ridge

We went to Lincoln Ridge off of Yuba Pass to look at the recent wind loading and wind slab development along the upper ridgeline.  Lots of evidence of the recent gale force SW winds were present with wind scouring, wind textured surfaces, and wind crusts in this terrain and all kinds of branches, pine needles, and tree moss scattered over the snow surface.  There was up to 3'' of new heavy storm snow with snow levels in the 6500-6800' through most of the day.  As we worked up the ridge, we found a natural wind slab avalanche that occurred earlier this morning.  A large cornice collapse triggered this wind slab, which was 80' wide and ran downslope 40'.  The wind slab was 1F+ hard wind slab over 4F old storm snow and the crown was 1 to 2 feet deep.  Snow surface conditions were wind affected and punchy even in the most wind protected treed locations.