Boletín de aludes

Northern New Mexico

Taos Avalanche Center
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Peligro de aludes

Alta montaña
2 · Moderado
Límite del bosque
1 · Débil
Bajo el límite
1 · Débil
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Desactualizado: este boletín caducó 6 years ago. Estás viendo condiciones pasadas, no el boletín vigente.

Lo esencial

It's still possible to trigger an avalanche that fails on deeper weak layers. Signs of instability such as whumpfs and shooting cracks haven't been observed for several days now. If you're traveling above treeline evaluate terrain carefully and avoid North through East facing slopes greater than 35 degrees or that are harboring a strong over weak snowpack structure.  

Problemas de aludes

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    1

    Strong winds from early November distributed areas of stout wind slab on North through East facing terrain above tree line. It's in these area's that we are still finding basal facets underneath that slab that are struggling to adjust. Because of our overall shallow snowpack slopes that look the most anticing to ski or ride on that aspect and elevation are likely the slopes harboring this poor structure. Think gullies, chutes, bowls, leeward sides of ridges, ect. Terrain features that you would normally see loading during a wind event. The only way to know for sure though is to dig and look for it. Avoiding North through East facing terrain above tree line greater then 35 degrees is a great way to mitigate the uncertainty thats associated with this avalanche problem. 

Avalanche Discussion

It's been nearly a week since our last significant loading event and its getting increasingly more difficult to trigger a persistent slab avalanche as the snowpack has had ample time to adjust. We haven't seen natural or skier triggered avalanches since Nov 25 and it's been several days since we observed whumpfs or shooting cracks. However, North through East facing terrain above tree line harbors a snowpack structure that consistently demonstrates the ability to propagate with moderate force in long column tests. We are finding that the presence of a stout wind slab over weak snow is nessecary in order to communicate this propagation. Where does this structure exist? North through East facing terrain above tree line that had a snowpack previous to Nov 23 and that saw significant wind. 

Near and below tree line has a different story though. At these elevations we are observing an overall weakening snowpack. What I mean by that is the snowpack is trending towards becoming homogeneous. Layers of the snowpack that were once cohesive and a concern are faceting and becoming softer. So, we're losing the strong over weak structure that was producing whumpfs and shooting cracks previously and replacing it with weak snow overall. Does that mean there's no risk for avalanches in these areas? No, low danger does not mean no danger and you should always be evaluating terrain, making observations and gathering information as you travel in and around avalanche terrain. But it's getting progressively more difficult to find the structure and/or trigger an avalanche at these elevations. If you were going to encounter this problem or structure still it would most likely be those areas just around tree line that can sometimes look or behave a bit more like our alpine terrain. I would still be a little suspect of those slopes until you gather more information.

 

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