Powderhouse Observation

I toured on Powderhouse Peak this afternoon to see how much snow had accumulated and what winds were doing with the snow. Upon arriving there was about 5" of new snow over a firm crust near Hwy 89. There was a break in the storm for the first portion of my climb and then snow and wind increased significantly. My time on the summit coincided with strong winds, intense blowing snow, and poor visibility. The contrast between the fairly calm in the trees below the summit area and the brutal wind above was stark. As soon as I left the skin track and poked around on the summit plateau I observed many shooting cracks. At some points nearly every step produced 5 foot long shooting cracks in the wind hardened snow. On a small slope at the summit walked along the edge of the slope and produced a crack that shot out in front of my ski further than I could see given the conditions. When I followed the crack it extended over 50' and produced a small wind slab avalanche on the slope below. Once I left the summit area and retreated below tree line to transition for the descent conditions improved significantly. I did not observe any cracking or signs of instability in the below tree line terrain. 

Photo 1: At 2:20pm there was about 5 inches of fresh snow near the base of Powerhouse at 7800 feet.

Photo 2: While skinning up there were occasional patches of blue sky and periods of no snow.

Photo 3: Cornices along the summit ridge were large.

Photo 4: Lots of shooting cracks in the above treeline summit area.

Photo 5: This crack extended over 50' and triggered a small wind slab on the slope below. 

Photo 6: Photo of small wind slab that I triggered from above and over 50' to the left of this slide

Photo 7: Back at the base, wind had blown enough snow to cover the skin track.