Widespread Wind on Silver Peak

Light rain greeted us this morning at the Pole Creek Trailhead. We could feel the thin rain crust on the snow surface with every pole plant. Below the rain crust, moist snow existed. This rain crust stayed with us until about 6700 ft. 

Above that elevation, the light rain changed to intermittent light snow. The rain crust gave way to a thin layer of more dense snow above softer snow. These "punchy" conditions persisted to our high point on the NE ridge of Silver at about 8200 ft. Wind-affected snow was also widespread at all elevations. The pervasive winds also exacerbated the "punchy" snow conditions. We saw scoured surfaces, drifted snow, firm wind-packed snow, debris blown out of trees, sastrugi, and any other kind of wind effect you can imagine. The winds had even made it into more densely treed areas at lower elevations. These wind-affected surfaces made travel conditions less than ideal.

One good thing about all the wind-affected snow was the abundance of wind-loaded test slopes. Thinner wind slabs (3-4 inches thick) existed on the lower-elevation wind-loaded slopes. 4-6 inch thick wind slabs had formed on the upper-elevation wind-loaded slopes. The wind slabs were firm and hollow sounding. Ski kicks on some test slopes did produce shooting cracks. Other test slopes would only crack after we undercut them. The winds also had a westerly component and created unusual loading/scouring patterns. 

We also looked for signs of buried surface hoar during our tour. Snowpit observations, handpits, and other general observations did not find any obvious signs of buried surface hoar in the areas we traveled.