Wind Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1–2.5
Near and above the treeline, westerly wind has been blowing from light to moderate with strong gusts. The wind direction will remain the same for the next 24 hours with a slight decrease in speed. Though gusts near and above the treeline are still powerful enough to redistribute snow onto leeward aspects (the shaded part of the compass rose). With fresh wind slab development comes fresh cornice development. Yesterday on Gray Butte, we found small and reactive cornices growing on the east side of ridges.
When traveling on ridges give these newly formed cornices more room than you'd think they need as they can break farther back than expected. Keep an eye out for areas that are suddenly deeper than the surrounding snowpack and for where the wind-blown snow is accumulating. If you observe any cracking, collapsing, and/or hollow sounding snow, you've found yourself a wind slab. Keeping your slope angle under 30° will prevent you from triggering an avalanche on this problem.
(1/4/2025)
Wind slab on Green Butte
Photo: Mount Shasta Avalanche Center