Wind Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Possible
- Size
- 1–2
People triggered several wind slab avalanches yesterday, with consequences that included a partial burial and a fatal full burial. Triggering a dangerous wind slab avalanche remains possible today. The winds may have affected more terrain than usual, but sheltered terrain still exists. Seeking sheltered areas can reduce your risk of triggering an avalanche and increase your chances of finding soft snow. If you choose to travel in wind-affected areas, move cautiously around any wind-loaded slopes and consider using lower-angle slopes. Look for clues such as piles of drifted snow, ripples on the snow surface, a striped pattern across a slope, and cornices above a slope to help identify where wind-blown snow may have deposited. Areas of wind-loaded snow may also be deeper and denser than non-wind-affected areas. Recent avalanches or cracking in the snow are sure signs that an unstable wind slab lurks nearby.
The recent strong winds transported snow across the terrain and deposited slabs of wind-blown snow in many places. The largest wind slabs exist on open slopes, slopes below ridges, in gullies, and on other wind-exposed terrain features. The winds also made it into more typically sheltered areas, leaving smaller wind slabs in some of those areas as well. These dense wind slabs rest on top of softer, weaker storm snow that may or may not support the added weight of a person on the slope. If these wind slabs break, the resulting avalanche could involve enough snow to bury or injure a person. The cornices lurking above many wind-loaded slopes also remain large and fragile.
(1/5/2026)This person triggered a wind slab and was buried up to their head yesterday.