Wind Slabs
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Possible
- Taille
- 2
Several inches of heavy snow fell yesterday on upper elevation slopes, and westerly winds were plenty strong enough to move it around. Northwest winds last night continued to drift the snow, picking it up in the flats and on windward slopes or fetch areas and dropping it into lee slope deposition areas and avalanche starting zones. Yesterday's drifts were quite sensitive to human triggering, but they will be stiffer and more stubborn today. Harder wind slabs sometimes allow people to get out on them before releasing.
- Watch for and avoid stiffer drifted snow near ridge lines and in and around terrain features like cliff bands, scoops, gully walls, and sub-ridges.
- Avoid ridge top cornices, which can break much further back than expected and start avalanches on slopes below.