Practical take-aways for the backcountry traveler: 1) The latent threat of a deep slab can be observed with failure quality "sudden" in connection with a faceted weak layer, but is very difficult to quantify for example with a danger scale or to calculate with a formula such as the reduction method. 2) The less uniform the snowpack, the greater is the threat of a deep slab. High variability in terrain features leads to less uniformity of the snowpack; as does a generally thinner snow depth. 3) Additional loading (precip, wind) and increased stress due to warming elevate the likelihood of triggering a deep slab. 4) The deep slab instability tends to persist over weeks if not months. 5) Until a better understanding of the failure mechanisms and the importance of the individual factors and their inter-connectivity is achieved, a high degree of uncertainty in dealing with deep slabs remains and consequently a much cautious approach is the wise thing to do. 6) Human factors associated with managing deep slab problems may easily get brushed aside because deep slab avalanches are especially hard to trigger and therefore incidents, while typically very violent, are much less common compared to other avalanche types. ... Great examples of this avalanche problem were the last two winters in Colorado- read up on the CAIC (https://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/acc_co.php)
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 23:19:06 +0000
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