Observation: Uintas

Wind Drifted Snow

Increasing Danger

The wind started out still around 7 and we were able to follow previous climbers tracks up to the ice climbs on reids peak. As we climbed the spindrift worsened at times lasting 30 seconds. When we topped out around 11, the wind was blowing steadily at ~20mph with gusts significantly higher. As we descended the saddle we noted that our previous track was fully buried in wind drifted snow and lower down we were able to pop out a pocket that moved 6 inches before arresting. The slab was 20ft wide and propagated about 20ft above and below where I was walking. The slab was roughly 4-6 inches thick and 1f-4f hardness above ~30 inches of loose fist hard facets to ground.