Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Possible
- Tamaño
- 1–2
Today is looking like a repeat of last Friday. The snow is forecast to begin falling later in the day and 2 to 6" could accumulate by Tuesday morning. Strong easterly wind is forecast to begin later in the day, but if it arrives early, fresh wind slabs will be forming over the older ones. For today, we could still trigger a slab up to 1' deep in places that were loaded by previous wind. Because these wind slabs are sitting on facets they could be reactive for longer than the normal 24 to 48 hours.
A person was briefly caught in an avalanche on the north side of Tenderfoot yesterday in Summit Lake. Everyone is ok and we really appreciate this group for sharing their information. Although this avalanche was relatively small, the blocks were hard and the crown looks like it could be deeper than we expected. There is a person in the photo to the right for scale. This occurred on a steep, wind loaded roll.
If this were to happen on steeper terrain with consequences below the outcome may not be positive like this one was. Jumping on small test slopes can be a way to test the sensitivity of wind slabs, but older wind slabs can be stubborn and may not give any feedback until we are well out onto a slope and it breaks above us.
Dry Loose Avalanches: A few dry loose avalanches have been seen in the last couple days. They are small right now, but are likely to grow in size with the incoming snow and could knock us off our feet.
(12/28/2025)
A rider was caught in this avalanche yesterday on the north side of Tenderfoot in Summit Lake. A very similar set up exists in Turnagain Pass.
Photo submitted anonymously