Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 3
It feels like spring, but in some terrain on the eastern front, the snowpack has remained thin and sugary in places... think, slopes that have avalanched several times this year or what we call repeaters. Here's the problem... recent storm snow blanketed the range with a thick coat of white paint and everything looks uniform and feels super solid under our skis, board, or sled. However, if you trench down, you'll still find weak, sugary facets beneath the surface, now buried between 1' and 3’ deep and that's the devious culprit behind recent persistent slab avalanches.
As I begin to set my sights on bigger terrain this spring I'm keepin' it tight and simply avoiding shallower areas of the snowpack like steep, rocky terrain where I'm more likely to trigger an avalanche into an old persistent weak layer. These shallow areas are between 1' and 3’ deep, and sometimes just pulling out my probe and getting a feel for snow depths is helpful, steering me away from suspect areas.
When I step out, I make sure the slopes I'm choosing don't have any overhead hazard, and offer no consequences like trees, cliff bands, or gullies in the runout below. In addition, I'm exposing only one person at a time to potential hazard.
Above, a northeast slope around Anchor Lake hovering right around 11,000', is an example of a repeater slope... meaning it's avalanched several times and left behind a shallow, weak snowpack. These areas, steep and rocky, are where you are most likely to trigger today's persistent slab avalanche.
