Persistent Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Possible
- Size
- 4
I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing. The snowpack is slowly gaining strength and it's got body. It's not just a pile of weak, lifeless, sugary snow... and that's good news. As a matter of fact, the lack of avalanche activity reveals why it's been a over week since we've seen or heard of any avalanches failing on weak, old snow layers near the ground. However, I also know the snowpack structure suggests we're not quite out of the woods just yet. And here's why... there's a persistent weak layer near the ground and these weaknesses can take long periods of time to heal. I also know that it might be more difficult to trigger a slide, but once initiated, avalanches have a distinct possibility of breaking deeper and wider than I might expect. Look at where Ted's pit failed in the image above.
Personally, I don't entirely trust anything in the snowpack I can't manage, so I'm going to continue avoiding terrain that harbors questionable snowpack structure. Of course the usual suspects come to mind... steep, rocky, upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass is bulls-eye terrain and should be considered suspect. With all the great coverage across the range and so many other riding options, there's no reason to roll the dice or pull on the dogs tail.
The biggest clue to avalanches is.... avalanches! Occurring during the mid December storm, sure it's old news, but the slide in the image above, to the southeast of Tower Mountain, clearly illustrates the type of avalanche we're dealing when we talk about a persistent weak layer.
