Persistent Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1–2
It is probably becoming difficult for a human to trigger a slab avalanche in stiff, wind loaded snow, but we think there is still a chance. This problem can be completely avoided by sticking to softer snow in the trees.
We have some uncertainty about how likely it could be for a person to trigger a persistent slab in Summit because of the lack of information we have from the upper elevations where this problem exists (old wind slabs sitting on weak snow). What we do know is:
- It has been more than 10 days since the Summit area had any measurable amount of snowfall.
- Recent information suggests the last avalanche on a buried weak layer (persistent slab) in Summit was about 7 days ago. This includes an avalanche on Summit Peak (pictured here) and an avalanche on Gilpatrick Mountain that we believe was triggered by wind.
The lack of avalanche activity and benign weather for the last week tells us the snowpack is trending towards stable, but this type of problem can be tricky so we can't rule it out yet.
(11/27/2024)
Close view of an avalanche on Summit Peak we believe released around 11.21.2024 during a northwest wind event. This avalanche failed on weak snow at the ground.
Photo: Daniel Krueger