Buried surface hoar on Castle Peak and Andesite Peak

We toured on Castle Peak and Andesite Peak today looking for buried surface hoar(SH). We found 2 to 6 mm surface hoar buried under about 8 inches of new snow throughout this area. We found the SH under both storm slabs and wind slabs across W-NW-N-NE-E aspect terrain above and below treeline. Informal observations produced limited signs of instability with recent avalanches from last night and some very minor snow surface cracking while breaking trail. We stepped on and ski cut numerous test slopes above and below treeline and had no slab failures. We triggered a very small loose dry avalanche on a small terrain convexity in the afternoon and saw one natural loose dry avalanche during the morning hours. Both of these appeared to fail on the SH layer. We had repeatable ECTP results on the SH layer at our pit location (NW aspect, 8,800') in wind affected near treeline terrain.

NE winds were creating some plumes of blowing snow throughout the morning hours. Winds were off and on with periods of calm. Around 2:30 pm we noted the wind speed increasing and becoming more consistent at mid slope.