Winds actively transported snow throughout the day as precipitation began to fall. Beneath this weekend’s new snow and wind-drifted slabs sits a supportable melt-freeze crust.
Shallow, widespread cracking was easy to initiate, and I was able to kick off thin wind skins ranging from 1–4". In areas with more drifting, I broke off a chunk closer to 6". While these were overall shallow, they were sensitive, and with continued loading and increasing snowfall, this hazard will grow.
In loaded, consequential terrain features, even a small slide could knock someone off their feet. Otherwise, I couldn’t get any lingering dry snow to move, and the elevated winds seemed to keep the surface cool.
Shallow surface cracking 1-2" deep on the melt freeze crust
Deeper chunk able to break off in a wind laoded zone - Hidden Canyon - 6-7" deep
Shallow wind skin - NW aspect - Hidden Canyon.
