Large Load on Weak Layers

The Sunshine Village Avalanche Control Team did a great job of finding the sweet spot with their explosive control work today! We skied over to have a quick look at their results... The crown of this slab tapered from 40cm, in a pile of facets that would not support a boot, to around 170cm in this wind-loaded start zone. The October 26 crust layer was the bed surface sitting at 20-30cm above the ground but the remnants of the crust were weak and largely replaced by facets and depth hoar. Although this avalanche did not run a long distance it would be hard to argue with its destructive potential given some of the blocks of slab measured over 5m long x 5m wide at 170cm deep. This slab was triggered by explosives but with such shallow weak snow along the flanks of the start zone, this slab clearly illustrates how triggering a deep slab from a shallow spot is possible right now...