Heavy Wet Snow on Andesite

15 to 20 cm of heavy wet snow existed on top of 15 cm of lighter storm snow on top of a thick layer of rain-soaked snow up to the summit of Andesite Peak today. Breaking trail triggered minor cracking on these storm snow weaknesses and one small area of snow collapsed on a below treeline sheltered slope. The collapse was only about 2 m in diameter. Ski cuts on steep below treeline test slopes also triggered minor cracking but did not trigger any storm slab avalanches.

In near and above treeline terrain exposed to wind-loading, blowing snow and wind-loading was intense and large cornices loomed over many wind-loaded slopes. Ski kicks and cuts on wind loaded slopes triggered shooting cracks up to 5m long in the wind slabs but no wind slab failures.  Cornices were easy to break above test slopes, but again they did not trigger wind slab failures in the slopes below. 

Temperatures and snow level seems to fall during the tour. Snow/rain line was at about 7200 to 7500 ft in the morning and lowered to 6400 to 6600 ft by the afternoon.