Wind Slabs
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Likely
- Taille
- 2
Craig Gordon said it best "the most in-your-face avalanche problem today will be fresh drifts of wind blown snow." These drifts were created from the strong westerly wind transporting and loading our most recent storm snow onto a variety of aspects at the mid and upper elevation terrain. Upper elevation slopes facing north through southeast that received the most snow will be most suspect. Yesterday, in Millcreek Canyon I found the problem was confined to the ridgelines and as you descended just a hundred feet you lost the wind and therefore lost the problem.
For today - choose slopes with soft settled powder that have not been effected by the wind. Use terrain to your advantage by avoiding the steep wind loaded starting zones. Remember, wind drifted snow often looks rounded and pillowy. Wind can swirl in the mountains so keep an eye out for mid slope break-overs and terrain features that channel the wind. Cracking is a sign of instability.
Additionally, several days of strong winds have created large and sensitive cornices along most exposed ridgelines. Some of these cornices have dropped naturally, and many observers have noted they are quite sensitive as you approach them. Large cornices often can collapse much further back than expected, so be sure to give them a wide berth when traveling along exposed ridgelines.
