Widespread Blowing Snow and Some Upside-Down Layering on Hidden Peak

The search for more data about the possible persistent weak layer around the Jan 4 rain crust continued on Hidden Peak today. We visited a wide range of elevations where this layer might exist. During our tour, we dug two pits, did numerous pole probes, skinned off the track, and ski-cut several slopes. Our snowpit tests(ECTNs on N-NE aspects at 7600 ft and 8000 ft) did not produce any unstable results near the Jan 4th rain crust, nor did our informal observations. We did find some interesting layering in the recent storm snow. Shallow new snow existed over a layer of wet snow at the trailhead. Once we got above 6800 ft, new snow amounts started to increase, and the wet snow began to decrease. We could feel a sandwich of light surface snow with denser snow under it and another layer of softer snow under the dense snow. Some cracking did occur between these layers, but none of the cracks went very far.

During our tour, we could see strong winds blowing snow along the summits and started to encounter blowing snow in the trees around 8000 ft. In our snowpit at 8000 ft, we got a failure about 10 inches below the surface at the base of the wind-affected new snow (ECTP). As we gained elevation, the winds and blowing snow continued to increase. By the time we reached the summit of Hidden Peak, the blowing snow was intense, and the winds were strong enough to push us around. We could trigger long shooting cracks in low-angle wind-loaded areas if we first undercut the slope. We saw many other steeper, wind-loaded, wind-affected slopes, and we chose to give them a wide berth.