Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 2
Human triggered avalanche in the Brighton periphery on Thursday
A cohesive soft slab 8-18" thick rests uneasily over the weak sugary facets formed during the January drought. With a quick hand pit, it's easy to see the dense new snow and/or wind blown snow over this persistent weak layer (PWL) of grey, crystalline sugary facets. This unstable structure will still be prone to triggering today in steep northerly (west-north-east) facing terrain at the mid and upper elevations. Conditions may seem to be slooooowly stabilizing, but this may make things a bit trickier for the unwary traveler: cracking and collapsing will be less common today, and yet this limited or inconsistent feedback will provide a severe false sense of security. Know that you can - and probably will - trigger one of these soft slabs failing on our PWL, and you may trigger it from a distance.
I would consider ALL steep slopes facing the north side of the compass suspect, particularly those that have seen recent wind loading.