Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Possible
- Tamaño
- 1–2
Moderate to strong west and northwest winds have blown consistently over the past 24 hours. Easterly aspects sit in the cross-fire of the wind's path and subjected to wind loading. While drifts exist on south aspects, shady north and east aspects are where drifts will be largest and most reactive. Being the shortest days of the year, instabilities can persist longer than average. Clues like wind lips, cornices, scoured ridges lines, and dense wavy surface snow will point you in the direction of wind loading. In the right place with the right trigger, slabs breaking deeper than a foot remain a possibility.
You can manage this scenario by avoiding steep leeward slopes, and identifying features that encourage drifting, such as, chutes, gullies, rock bands, and pronounced ridgelines. Or, feel for yourself. Is the surface snow denser than the snow below? How cohesive is it? Can you initiate shooting cracks on small test slopes? These data points lead to better decision-making and problem identification in the backcountry.