Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 2–3
The odds of triggering large, Persistent Slab avalanches are decreasing, but the consequences remain severe. Expect to find 1-2.5 foot thick slabs in areas sheltered from the wind. The slab may be twice as thick in terrain affected by the wind. These avalanches have failed on various weak layers: facets and/or surface hoar on shadier aspects and crust + facet combinations on sunnier slopes. Large natural and human-triggered avalanches have occurred on several aspects in recent weeks. Assume this problem exists on all upper and middle elevation slopes and on shadier, lower elevation aspects.
Avalanches on this uncommonly widespread and fragile layer will break widely and in surprising ways. Don't expect obvious signs of instability, like snowpack cracking and collapsing. Your first sign of trouble may be the destructive avalanche you trigger. These slides can be triggered from long distances away—from flat or gentle terrain below, above, or to the sides of steep slopes.
(1/22/2024) The debris of this slide ran into a creek, a lower and mid-elevation terrain trap that is characteristic of the Banner Summit Zone. Terrain features like these multiply the consequences of these slides.