Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Unlikely
- Tamaño
- 1–2
Isolated wind slab can still be found in exposed treeline and alpine features.
Avoid wind loaded features especially in areas where snowpack depths vary and a persistent weak layer is present.
Isolated wind slab can still be found in exposed treeline and alpine features.
40-70 cm of snow sits over a weak layer on a thick crust. While only a handful of avalanches have been reported to have run on this layer, they have been large. Avalanches on this layer may be triggered by humans or vehicles from thin spots or by large loads like wind slab avalanches.
Tuesday night: light alpine winds from the west with some light flurries. Low of -9 at 1600m.
Wednesday: Trace amounts of new snow with moderate Southwest winds. High of -7 at 1600m.
Thursday: Up to 5cm of new snow with a high of -7 at 1600m. Winds becoming strong from the Northwest.
Friday: no new snow expected. Moderate winds from the Northwest shifting to the Southwest. High of -11 at 1600m.
Several skier triggered and natural wind slabs up to size 2 were observed in the region on Monday. These avalanches were in the upper treeline and alpine elevation and on North and East aspects.
Up too 20cm of recent new snow has formed wind slab in isolated features in exposed treeline and alpine terrain.
The defining feature of the snowpack is a prominent and widespread crust that reaches as high as 2400 m in the alpine and now sits 40-80 cm below the surface. In many places, overlying snow is well-bonded to the crust but in others weak faceted grains have been observed growing above it.
Average snowpack depth at treeline is 200cm.