Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Unlikely
- Tamaño
- 2
Cracking (Brian Smith photo below) in the new wind effect noted by observers in the Ogden mountains yesterday, but large wind drifts noted in the side-country of the resorts. These should be avoided today. Pockets of both soft and hard wind slab are present on many aspects and more pronounced at the upper elevations.
Awareness and caution, if not outright mitigation, should be exercised. Remember that soft slabs you're "in"; hard slabs you're "on". Hard wind slabs are troublesome in that they don't often respond to a cornice drop or ski cut and may ultimately pull out with the third skier or rider. Increasing northwest wind has "colored in" more potentially drifted terrain today at the upper elevations. They remain pockety in the mid-elevations.
Wind drifts can look rounded and smooth and certainly feel more thick or punchy when you move through them. Shooting cracks or audible collapsing of a drift on lower density snow below are red flags to turn around.