Wind Affected Snow on Talking Mountain

Today's tour found widespread wind-affected surfaces on Becker Peak and Takling Mountain at all elevations. We started up along the ridge on sun-exposed aspects. These held firm surfaces with some areas of recent shallow snow. Cornices and wind-scoured surfaces existed all along the ridge. As we looked over onto the N-NE facing slopes, we could see evidence of strong NE winds from previous days. 

We found some fresh wind-blown snow on N-NE facing slopes along the ridgeline, and ski kicks triggered minor cracking in these deposits. However, they only measured 1- 3 inches in depth and extended a few feet downslope. 

Descending on the N side of Talking Mountain, we encountered variable conditions with soft snow in tree-covered areas sheltered from the winds. More exposed slopes held breakable wind crusts and wind-carved surfaces down to Echo Lake.