Persistent Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Likely
- Größe
- 4
Strong winds, dense heavy snow, and a respectable amount of water weight will most definitely bring our dormant, midpack weak layers, out of their winter slumber. And my bet is they're ticked off, they're gonna be cranky, and they're gonna react to our additional weight now that they've come back to life. Our snowpack history reveals that each time there's a sufficient load of water weight, wind, and snow we see avalanches that break unmanageably wide and deep, often failing around this persistent midpack weakness. This is a tricky setup because the snow will feel strong under our skis, board, or sled. Problem is... we gotta think not only about the snow we're riding in, but also the snow we're riding on and the fact is.... it's strong snow over weak snow, which often gives us false signs of stable snow. This is the kind of setup where we see avalanches triggered mid slope, low on the slope, or from a distance. That's too much uncertainty for me to deal with so I'm choosing to follow my gut, my intuition, and my own forecast. I'm gonna stay off of and out from under steep, wind drifted slopes.
JG nailed his observation last week with the comments below-
"Pit tests were stubborn and somewhat inconclusive but I would be hard pressed to jump into steep terrain on the north half of the compass, especially if there is an easterly component to the slope. Things will be changing by the weekend and early next week with the addition of more water weight to the snowpack."
Sage advice from a seasoned snow pro. More on JG's travels are found here.
