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addition of weight on top of a snowpack, usually from precipitation,
wind drifting, or a person. |
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Loading from Wind:
As we know, snow does not like rapid changes, especially a rapid
increase in weight piled on top of a buried weak layer. By far,
the quickest way to load snow onto a slope is from wind drifting.
Wind can deposit snow ten times more rapidly than snow falling
out of the sky.
Wind erodes snow from the windward (upwind) side of an obstacle
and deposits snow on the leeward (downwind) side. Deposited
snow looks smooth and rounded. You should always beware of recent
deposits of wind drifted snow on steep slopes.
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Loading from Snow or
Rain:
The second fastest way to load a buried weak layer is through
new snow or rain. Rapidly-added weight almost always means rapidly-rising
avalanche danger. Remember that more precipitation usually falls
at higher elevations than lower elevations and more on the windward
sides of mountain ranges than the leeward sides (with the exception
of wind drifting near the ridges).
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