Incline Lake Peak

Three to four inches of cold, soft snow fell on Incline Lake Peak last night. Moving through the terrain saw a layer of graupel at the base of the new snow. In the sheltered areas where the new snow was still very soft and unconsolidated, it was easy to pull the new snow off the graupel layer, but it fell apart in our hands, and only minimal slab characteristics. As we moved into more wind-exposed terrain, we could see evidence of previous W-SW winds as well as current E-NE winds. Large cornices formed by the previous SW wind still linger along many ridges. Today's NE wind had blown enough snow across the ridges to form drifts up to 2 feet deep by 1:30 pm. In areas with wind-blown snow deposits, the new snow exhibited more slab characteristics. Ski kicks on wind-loaded test slopes around the compass triggered small cracks as soft wind slabs failed on the graupel layer.