Wind slabs and morning fog on Andesite Peak.

New snow at the start of the Castle Rd measured about 4 inches at 7,300' and gave the indication that wind slabs would be present up higher along the ridgelines. Breaking trail and moving up through below treeline terrain gave no indication of storm slab or loose wet avalanche problems during the mid morning hours.

Upon nearing treeline, blowing snow became apparent and visibility was poor. Terrain familiarity was used to avoid steeper areas of wind slab while ascending past treeline up to the ridgetop. Near the ridgetop in above treeline terrain, wind slabs were 4F hard and 10 to 12 inches thick. These wind slabs were fairly well bonded to melt freeze crust at the pre storm old snow surface. Isolated, minor cracking was observed on test slopes with ski cuts generally producing no results. Going to snowpit tests to get a better sense of the presence of instability revealed repeatable ECTP-12 results failing about 8 inches down within the 12 inch thick wind slab. This confirmed the presence of an unstable wind slab problem and gave guidance to avoid wind loaded avalanche terrain. 

Descending through low angle terrain off the ridge allowed access to travel in below treeline avalanche terrain where no specific avalanche problem or signs of instability were present.

Upon departing the area around 11am, snowfall had ended and the cloud ceiling was starting to thin and lift a little bit. Air temperatures were warming and conditions seemed to be headed towards becoming conducive to a possible loose wet avalanche problem at the low and mid elevations during the afternoon hours.