Storm Slabs
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Possible
- Taille
- 1–2
Weak layers within the new snow are resolving themselves. Test slopes and hand shears on Tuesday revealed mostly good bonding. On isolated slopes, I observed some cracking of the surface snow and easy hand shears that can be associated with avalanches. I opted for more conservative terrain choices in this case.
The wind has been fickle lately. Near treeline, wind speeds have felt abnormally light. On Ball Butte, I found very little wind transported snow. Looking over into Broken Top Bowl, I could see a very different scenario with evidence of significant wind transport (see picture). In some locales, there were observations of blowing snow from the southeast. I have had a hard time telling if instabilities and recent avalanches are related to the wind or just present in the layering of the storm snow.
It is worth doing some snowpack evaluation before choosing to ride steep, unsupported slopes with smooth snow textures, whether they are immediately below ridgetops or further down slope.