Strong E winds, wind scouring, drifting, and dense snow on all aspects.

We toured on the WNW side Castle Peak and on E side Andesite Peak this morning. ENE winds last night and today were strong. Many areas near ridgetops had been scoured down to rain crust on N-NE-E aspects. Wind effect and stiff surface snow was prominent on all aspects, even well below treeline.

Intense drifting snow had formed dense drifts in leeward areas. We saw some impressively long, old cracks along the top of Andesite Ridge between Castle Pass and Andesite Peak. We saw the debris from an avalanche that had occurred yesterday near treeline on an ENE aspect slope just below and extending south of the summit of Andesite Peak.

Traveling through actively wind loaded areas, we triggered very little new cracking in wind drifted snow. With intense blowing snow, unstable wind slabs are sure to form somewhere, it just wasn't seen in the areas we traveled.