Wind Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Possible
- Größe
- 3
Additional snow accompanied by strong SW winds should have created more wind slabs on wind loaded and cross loaded NW-N-NE-E-SE aspects. The largest of these wind slabs will exist above 8500 ft. in near and above treeline terrain where more new snow has accumulated. In these areas wind slabs could measure more than 3 to 4 ft. in depth. The new wind slabs have formed above previous wind slabs. On northerly aspects some of these now large wind slabs sit on top of old crusts that have a layer of softer snow below them. Some wind slabs could still linger in isolated areas in below treeline terrain or in more sheltered areas due to the strong winds during this series of storms.
Human triggered avalanches involving these winds slabs remains possible. These dense and hard wind slabs can break above the person who triggers them or could be triggered by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or nth person on the slope. Typical obvious clues of instability and other tests may not provide reliable data as to whether or not these wind slabs will break. Wind loaded slopes steeper than 35 degrees above 8500 ft, represent the most likely places to find unstable wind slabs. Wind loaded slopes 38 degrees and steeper, couliors, unsupported slopes above cliffs, or slopes in complex or extreme terrain could be especially problematic today. Some of these slabs could fail on or just below the old snow surfaces and could propagate along those old snow layers.
