Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1
After a few small storms of incremental loading this October and November, upper-elevation north-facing slopes now hold an interface of weak facets and crusts, forming the base of the snowpack. While most pronounced at higher elevations, this weak layer also extends down to around 8500 feet into the mid-elevation band.
Currently, this issue is not widespread. The main concern today is in areas that held old snow and received some wind. Overnight, westerly winds ramped up to nearly 60 mph. With strong winds, small wind drifts can form on upper-elevation slopes and mid-elevation terrain features prone to drifting.
The catch is that these are exactly the slopes that will look the best to ride, and sadly, they’ll be the most suspect. The other side of it is that southerly-facing slopes, which don’t hold the weak faceted snow, were mostly bare before this storm and aren’t really worth riding right now either.
As additional snow or wind adds load to this weak faceted snowpack, avalanche danger will increase, so continue to pay attention to which slopes held snow prior to the incoming storms.