Wind and Storm Slabs on Tamarack Peak

New snow amounts of around 1 foot in the Tamarack Peak area upon arrival at 9:45 am. By 1 pm total storm snow accumulation had increased to around 20-22 inches.

Signs of storm slab instability were apparent below treeline within the first 20 feet of trail breaking away from the parking lot with skier triggered cracking noted. This cracking was failure of higher density storm snow (4F- hard) on top of the lower density (F hard) old snow at the pre storm snow surface.  A testpit showed easily triggered ECTP results along the old/new snow interface, consistent with the skier triggered cracking.

Wind slabs up to 2 feet thick had formed near treeline by mid day but were difficult to trigger (stubborn). Cornices were easy to intentionally collapse with ski kicks. Visibility was so poor in actively wind loading areas that it was impossible to determine if slabs were failing 10 feet down slope or not as a result of cornice collapses.