Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1.5–3
Weak snow that formed in January sits beneath 2-3 feet of more recent snowfall, most of which fell rapidly 2-3 days ago. The weakest grains (buried surface hoar) are distributed in a spotty way from about 8,000' to about 9,500'. The layer has been most reactive on the west side and the southern portion of this zone but has produced avalanches most everywhere in all our forecast zones. Small facets, as well as the buried surface hoar, have been responsible for widely propagating and very dangerous avalanches. This drought layer from January needs more time to adjust or be buried out of reach of human-triggering. Recent avalanches have been 2-4 feet deep, have propagated very widely across entire slopes and have been triggered from a distance.
A very large skier triggered avalanche that occurred near Phillips Pass on 2/21/2026. The 5th rider on the slope triggered the smaller slab near the ridge that then triggered a much larger avalanche below the cliff band.
ENE at 9,200'
Photo: Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center