Wind Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1
If you travel near or above treeline, you'll likely find firm wind stiffened snow on a variety of aspects due to the strong-extreme W-NW winds Monday night and Tuesday. Several natural D1-2 (large enough to bury a person) wind slabs were observed Wednesday on steep, north and east facing terrain. Wind slabs may still be reactive to human triggering where they've bonded poorly to the most recently formed crust.
You can test the bond of the new snow to the crust on small test slopes. Sticking to wind-scoured ridgelines and to slopes less than 35 degrees will help you avoid the problem Thursday.
Example of cracking in a fresh wind drift on a small test slope.