Blowing snow at Rubicon

Intense gusty winds and blowing snow at Rubicon Peak today. Right from the trailhead we experienced moderate winds and wind effected snow that continued throughout our ski tour. Depending on location anywhewre from 1-6" of new snow was present, with drifing up to 12" deep in some areas. Below treeline areas that are usually protected from the wind were equally impacted as the ridgetop today. New snow was 4 finger hard and supportable making for fast and pleasant skiing. 

Along the hike up to the summit we observed minimal surface cracking regularly, but no shooting cracks. This was surprising given the extent of the wind effect on the new snow. At the ridgetop we poked at obviously wind loaded pillows (Photo 1) and again only observed minimal surface cracking. Photo 2 shows the largest crack we observed in an undercut section. We did not observe any other signs of instability associated with the wind loaded snow. 

Snowfall was on and off throughout the day, but the winds continued to blow moderate to strong with strong gusts. Blowing snow in near ground turbulent suspension was visible all day, and occasionally wrapped us up in snow-nados! The skin track was refilling rapidly in below treeline areas and was gone after 30 minutes between runs (Photo 3). 

We dug 2 snowpits (1 along primary skin track, and 1 at pin drop location) to observe the 1/4 crust and facet layers with the new snow load on them. In both locations test results did not suggest instability at this time (Photo 4).