Gale Force Winds and drifting snow on Hidden Peak.

We toured in the Hidden Peak area today to look for newly developed wind slabs.  Snow coverage remains thin below 7000' in this area with many obstales present.  Snow surface conditions were supportable crusts up to around 7200', with increasing snow on top of the rain crusts above 7500'.  As we neared 8000', the winds were blowing snow into near treeline areas.  Wind scouring was fairly widespread in near treeline terrain.  Around 4'' of recent settled storm snow exists in protected areas above 8000'.  New wind slabs were developing off of the ridgelines that were 4 to 6'' deep.  Handpits, ski cuts, and dropping cornices along the ridgeline showed these new wind slabs to be unreactive at this point.  Winds continued with blowing snow into the afternoon.