Krivánska Malá Fatra

Watch out for unstable snow slabs and cushions formed by the wind.

Watch out for unstable snow slabs and cushions formed by the wind.

In Malá Fatra, an INCREASED avalanche danger is declared above the forest zone, level 3. Due to snowfall and strong winds, snow slabs and pillows have formed, which are wound up on the older, mostly windblown surface. The new snow cannot bind well enough to the substrate. An avalanche can be released with only a small additional load. Occasionally, smaller or medium-sized spontaneous avalanches may occur in places where the wind blows large amounts of snow, even more than 50 cm.

After a day of intense snowfall combined with very strong winds (over 20 m/s), the snow cover was changing very quickly. Places where a large amount of new snow (even more than 50cm) is piled up alternate with places blown into older hard ground, grass and rocks. Most of the snow is blown into the forest and slash belt. Due to the very cold air, this snow is unable to bind with the substrate, which consists of older snow or wind-blown slabs. Therefore, under the new snow, even under the older layer, a soft, angular-grained snow is formed, which is very difficult to detect in the terrain.

Persistent