Mt. Judah

I found about 2 inches of new snow in areas below about 7700 ft on Mt. Judah. By the time I reached above 8000 ft, the new snow amounts had increased to about 4 inches. This new snow rested on a partially refrozen crust, and observations, hand tests, and ski cuts on test slopes indicated that it was bonding to this crust. Below the soft crust, several inches of wet snow still exists. One of my ski cuts on a sheltered and steep test slope did cause a small sluff that only involved the top inch of the new snow. 

When I moved into more wind-exposed areas, blowing snow and strong winds made it hard to see. I found some small wind-loaded test slopes, and ski kicks triggered shallow cracking on these slopes. These cracks only extended a couple of feet from my skis, and the wind slabs mostly stayed below 5 inches in depth. They also did not extend more than a couple of feet from the ridges. 

Ski kicks on wind-loaded slopes triggered small (1 to 2 ft long) shallow (3 to 5 inches deep) cracking.