Wind transport along surface of snow. R4 sluff on north face of Magnum. Small shooting cracks within wind packed snow.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Sunburst
Sunburst standard uptrack. West ridge was wind blasted so we stuck just a little southwest in the softer snow for better grip while ascending. Winds were generally from the south, but wind effect clued to funneling down taylor creek valley.
Observer Comments
Weather
NO precip.
10:20 @ Parking lot: Broken skies, Light SE winds, -7 Celcius.
13:30 @ 2850': Broken skies w/ thin clouds overhead, Moderate South winds transporting snow along snow surface.
~14:00 @ 3000': Winds died down to light breeze.
14:30 @ parking lot: Scattered clouds, Very Light south winds, -3 C
Snow surface
3" new snow at lower elevations, seeming to get deeper as we went up. Above 2000', winds were transporting the surface snow. On the southwest face, south winds were creating a mix of wind ripples and ~2" soft wind slab, however snow was overall soft (save for the west ridge).
Snowpack
Some hand pits in higher elevations showed the new wind deposited snow (slab) overlying light powder snow, above older stout wind slabs.
Sluff on the North face of Magnum, as seen from Sunburst
Wind effect on Sunburst @2500' (was trying to get a picture of snow transport but it didn't pan out)
Small shooting crack within undisturbed snow when stepping above skin track @1700'