Limited Wind effect on Tamarack Peak

With the recent snow and wind loading on a faceted snowpack my partner and I were conservative in our route choices today at Tamarack and Fireplug Peaks. We chose to close terrain steeper than 35 degrees, and to be very cautious in terrain steeper than 30 degrees.

From the trailhead up to the summit we observed 6-15" of new snow, with most areas around 12". At the ridgetop we saw blowing snow (Photo 1) and wind loaded pillows.  Wind loaded areas had slabs up to 3 feet deep.  We intentionally kicked at smaller wind loaded features and observed shooting cracks and surface slab failures. None of these slabs ran very far or entrained any downslope snow. Cornice drops did not cause any wind slab avalanches either (Photos 2, 3, & 4). We did not observe any other signs of instability associated with the wind slabs, nor did we observe any avalanches in this area.

Snowpits in below and near treeline terrain on North, East, and Northeast aspects showed layers similar to Photo 5. Extended column and Compression test targeting the 1/4 rain crust and the faceted snow adjacent to it did not suggest likely propagation- CT12 Brk, ECTN11, ECTN 12 on the faceted snow. 

The new snow stayed cold all day on sun sheltered aspects and skiied very well on lower angle pitches.