Persistent Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Possible
- Tamaño
- 2–3
Our main concerns in Summit Lake exist at upper elevations where lingering wind slabs and the potential to trigger an avalanche on a buried weak layer still exist. With calm weather expected today, the potential for triggering wind slabs is rapidly decreasing. However, there are several weak layers buried in the snowpack that could cause larger avalanches up to 3' deep.
We recommend stepping out into steeper terrain cautiously by keeping an eye out for red flags, using test slopes to check for shooting cracks or small avalanches, and using hand pits or snowpits to evaluate the sensitivity of buried weak layers. Buried weak layers are tricky to assess because they can provide little feedback before causing a large avalanche. Human triggered avalanches on buried weak layers are typically triggered from a thin spot in the snowpack and then propagate onto an adjacent slope. To avoid this problem you can always stick to lower angle terrain.
Cornices: During the holiday storm cornices grew rapidly due to the heavy snowfall and winds and could still be sensitive to human triggering today. To avoid this problem give cornices a wide berth when traveling along ridgelines.