Persistent Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Unlikely
- Size
- 3
Think of the snowpack like a rubber band. When it snows and we add weight to the snowpack, the rubber band stretches. Add enough of a load — and the rubber band can break, resulting in an avalanche. As time passes without additional loading, the snowpack begins to adjust and settle into itself. The rubber band relaxes and avalanches become less and less likely.
With that said, there’s no doubt we still have a layered snowpack with buried persistent weak layers. It’s been a week since the last reported slab avalanche, which suggests the snowpack is slowly adjusting.
As always, there is inherent risk in the mountains. Continue to be on guard in upper-elevation terrain—especially on thin, steep, shallow, rocky slopes. These isolated areas remain the most likely places where a person could still trigger a slab avalanche.