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Glossary Index

Avalanche Institute

 

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Slab

Also: Wind Slab; Slab Group

One or more cohesive layers of snow in which the grains are bonded together. A slab initially fails over a broad area, as opposed to a single point.

The boundaries of a slab that has failed are the bed surface underneath, the crown at the top, the flanks along the side, and the stauchwall at the bottom.

"Slab Group" is sometimes used to refers to a group of snow layers which form a cohesive slab unit above the bed surface in a slab avalanche.

"Windslab" denotes one or more slab layers of snow deposited by the wind. Typically the crystals have been broken into small pieces and packed together tightly.


This glossary is a work in progress and is made possible by AlpenPro.