New Snow and Strong Winds on Incline Lake Peak

We toured in the Incline Lake Peak area today to look at new snow accumulations and wind slab development.  Remote sensor data was showing temps in the single digits to low teens with strong W/NW winds which made for a brisk day out in the mountains.  These W/NW wind have scoured exposed areas in near and above treeline terrain with many areas scoured down to previous firm old snow surfaces.  There was 4'' of new storm snow at the trailhead in the morning with on and off snow showers throughout the day with snowfall rates up to around 1''/per hour.  Multiple layers of graupel exist within this new storm snow with some small cracking observed even within the 4'' of new storm snow.  We found wind slabs developing along with cornices building out along ridgelines.  Some minor cornice collapses were seen that occurred sometime early this morning that were mostly covered up by additional storm snow and wind transport.  Wind slabs were found up to 12'' deep and these would crack with some propagation from the weight of a skier.  The W/NW storm winds favored NE-E aspects for wind transport, but in general, the swirling winds did a lot of wind scouring on most aspects in near and above treeline terrain.  Wind protected below treeline terrain with previous smooth snow surfaces provided the best travel conditions for today.