Deep Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 2.5–3.5
The snowpack in the Summit Lake area has multiple layers of crusts and weak, faceted snow buried in the bottom half of the snowpack. This is 2 to 4' deep on average, and has the potential to make some very big avalanches. These deep persistent weak layers are a real challenge to assess, so for now the best way to manage them is by avoiding steep terrain in mid and upper elevations.
These deeper weak layers have been giving us inconsistent feedback in stability tests, but they did produce a very widespread avalanche cycle a week ago. For now, we are still assuming there is a good chance a person will be able to trigger a very large avalanche in the Summit Lake area. Weather stations in the area recorded around 6" snow yesterday, which came in with strong winds. Although it's not a huge storm, this has added some weight on top of these weak layers, making them just a little more sensitive today.
(1/18/2025) While Manitoba's west aspect is fairly deep, ridges facing more east are scoured above treeline, as pictured here. Photo: Andy Moderow