Wind Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1–2
Saturday's wind slab problem will be dependent on how much snow falls overnight Friday and through Saturday morning. Most of the snow fall will be happening in the early hours of Saturday morning, and will be accompanied by strong to extreme winds. I would expect this hazard to increase throughout the morning as snow falls and continues to get blown around. Keep in mind that wind drifts can be 3-5x deeper than the snow totals that fell from the sky. Strong winds could result in loading patterns further downslope than you would expect. Use the crust layer that this new snow is falling on as a baseline to measure snow depths and gauge wind slab presence. Small low consequence test slopes are a good way to get an idea of likelihood to triggering. If you see red flags such as shooting cracks or collapsing of the snow, consider lower angle or more windward terrain.
(2/1/2026)
Archived photo of cracking in storm snow
Photo: Gabriel Coler