Cornice Ridge

Spent the past two days skiing off of the E/SE side of Cornice Ridge. The recent storm deposited up to 40cm of new snow appearing to be right side up with progressive resistance above a firm (P-K) melt/freeze crust. Another crust exists approximately 70cm down in the snowpack with the remainder of the pack appearing to be well settled. Just after 1200 today, winds began to gust into the strong range (were light gusting to moderate this morning) with significant wind transport. On our final lap at 1300, we noticed up to 20cm of additional load in immediate ridge top lees with all tracks from previous laps covered. When we returned to ridge top at 1430, we observed cracking 5m in front and behind our skis. We avoided steep, unsupported features on our ski out with the rapid loading and lack of visibility. Overall, incredible ski conditions with terrain selection being the name of the game right now. Tomorrow could be a little interesting with the recent new snow and mod-strong winds from this afternoon.