called a sluff. Sluffs account for only a small percentage of deaths and property damage from avalanches, according to the ...

This season the western U.S. is especially prone to one of the worst layers for wet slabs—depth hoar. Doug Chabot is the director of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center based in Bozeman, ...

The two main kinds are dry-loose or sluff avalanches — which are made up of soft snow that collects as it moves — and slab avalanches, which occur when a cohesive layer of snow breaks and moves as a ...

Over time, this process, combined with additional weight from new or wind-redistributed snow, is the prime culprit in slab avalanches, the most deadly and most common kind. In a safe, stable ...

Such avalanches have a single point of origin, from where they widen as they travel down the slope. Slab Avalanche Loose Snow Avalanches in turn could cause a Slab Avalanche, which are characterized ...

Another member of the group, Skier 3, entered the skier’s left side of the gully and triggered a wind slab avalanche between one and two feet deep, according to the CAIC. They reportedly weren’t ...

A field report filed with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center states that there were at least three skiers in the group. The wind slab avalanche occurred on the north side of the mountain ...

Sometimes a slide happens in the form of loose snow, called a sluff. Sluffs account for only a small percentage of deaths and property damage from avalanches, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.