Observation Sub Peak

Made the summit of Observation south peak via the drainage closest to Cirque Peak. Alpine was severely wind effected, and the wind picked up throughout the day today - blowing eastward - moderate winds with strong gusts in the alpine above 2600m. The southern aspect was blown nearly bare up here, with settled shallow wind slab. We avoided venturing onto E aspect beyond the SE aspect, since there was a good deal of wind loading going on. We didn't find any drumming, cracking, wumpfs, or any other signs of instability where we traveled. HS varied a lot on this tour. We noted zero natural activity, but we were concerned with the new wind loading on E flanks, so we avoided them. The alpine was clearly hammered during the week, but seems to have settled and bonded well. Ski quality was pretty poor above 2600m, with small pockets of OK skiing as we lowered. Ski quality at treeline and below greatly improved as we descended with some recent fresh snow, and coverage was quite good for the ski out, which we had no issues with. Found quite a few rocks all day but luckily nothing bit too hard. Had better snow conditions last weekend but cannot complain about making a summit safely and getting to ski down right to the car!