Wind Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Possible
- Size
- 1
With a few inches of snow available for transport, and strong northerly winds, unstable areas of wind drifted snow are back on the problem type menu. Slabs of wind drifted snow may be hard or soft and though their distribution may be fairly widespread, they are most likely "pockety" or not wide and well connected. Look for them on the leeward sides of ridge crests and terrain features such as gully walls, sub-ridges, and behind or beneath rock outcrops. Hard slabs may be difficult to identify in the mix of textured surfaces but suspect areas that sound like a drum or that feel hollow underneath.
Here is some information on hard slabs that I lifted from Drew Hardesty's Wasatch forecast this morning:
- Hard slabs often allow one or two riders to traverse over them before the third (fourth? fifth?) rider collapses the thinner part of the teardrop, shattering it like a pane of glass
- They commonly fracture after you're well on to the slab
- They have a lot of spatial variability: welded in and stable here...or initially stubborn only to fracture there
- Cracking and collapsing may not be present
- Hard slabs may pull back onto lower angle slopes