Persistent Slabs
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Likely
- Taille
- 1.5–3
A widespread layer of weak faceted snow, including surface hoar lies underneath consolidated snow that has fallen since early January. Avalanches involving this weak layer can be triggered at all elevations and on most aspects today with expected depths of 2 to 4 feet at the mid and high elevations and with depths to two feet at the low elevations. Although natural avalanche activity is not expected today, areas of the snowpack remain so weak that triggering a slide remotely remains a possibility. For this reason, travel under steep, connected avalanche paths should be avoided. Other slopes may fail after being tracked several times, when a particularly weak spot is impacted or a larger force such as more than one person impacts it.
An older weak layer that formed in November exists on northerly aspects at mid and upper elevations. Though generally dormant, avalanches that step down to this layer could be very large and destructive. No avalanches have stepped down to this layer since the peak of the last avalanche cycle on Jan 10/11th.
(1/23/2024)
This avalanche occurred in the northern part of GTNP on Tuesday. The skier was buried but quickly rescued by skilled companions.