Deep Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 2
In general if a NW-N-NE aspect has enough snow to recreate on, then human triggered persistent slab avalanches remain possible. Even though these kind of avalanches have become unlikely on some slopes, most sheltered near and below treeline areas with consistent snow cover still hold a slab sitting on top of a fragile weak layer waiting for the right trigger to break it loose. Areas where a shallower snowpack exists or trigger points like shallowly buried rocks represent the most likely places to trigger an avalanche. Trying to find these trigger points on a snow covered open slope would be quite difficult without x-ray vision.
The increase in variability and uncertainty associated with the persistent slabs makes accessing snowpack stability difficult. Even though most observations may point to a stable slope, it only takes finding that one hidden trigger point to start a failure that could take down the whole slope. Using the terrain to avoid the avalanche hazard by recreating on lower angle slopes that remain disconnected from steeper and deeper terrain represents a fun and safe plan when conditions like this exist.
Between the lingering persistent slabs and the shallow snow cover over rocks, logs, and other objects, significant hazards exist in the backcountry.