Persistent Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Likely
- Größe
- 3
The buried Persistent Weak Layer of sugary faceted snow is still active and will become more active with the storm moving in today and through the weekend. Yesterday's snowmobile triggered avalanche is proof. My partner and I experienced a couple of HUGE collapses where the snowpack "whumpfed" under us, we felt the snowpack drop, and there were cracks throughout the snow. The combination of the buried weak layer and the large windy storm this weekend could produce some VERY large natural avalanches.
The tricky thing is that the buried weak layer has gained quite a bit of strength in many areas. In other areas the layer remains quite weak. What this means is it's like we have land mines scattered about. Some slopes will stay in place, others will avalanche and there's no sure way to tell which ones are dangerous and which ones are safe. Your only strategy is to continue to avoid steep terrain until the buried weak layer has gained more strength and is stable.