Persistent Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Possible
- Größe
- 2
Poor snowpack structure remains with a dense, cohesive slab over top of weak, faceted snow, but time and warm daytime temperatures have helped to stabilize the snowpack. Areas where you could still trigger an avalanche are on steep slopes near and above treeline that face NW-N-E. If you decide to step out into this kind of terrain, choose planar slopes without complex terrain features. Avoid likely trigger points such as steep convexities, or shallow points along slope margins or near rock outcrops.
Outlying problem areas may still exist on upper elevation slopes facing W and SE. Most of these slopes have thin cover, but deeper pockets exist along leeward terrain features and these areas still warrant caution. For more on this, see Dave Garcia's observation.
Photo illustrates the poor structure that still exists. This test below treeline on a west aspect produced no results. I found similar results and a similar snowpack on north and northeast aspects below treeline.