Scouring of snow from windward terrain features.

Credit: Crested Butte Avalanche Center

Winds scour snow from windward slopes and deposit it into dangerous drifts on leeward slopes.  Traveling on wind-eroded slopes is often a good strategy to avoid fresh wind drifting and Wind Slabs problems.  Look for physical evidence that wind has eroded the snow. Usually, the snow surface looks rough, rippled, and sandblasted.  Wind erosion also can destroy weak layers that develop near the snow surface.  One caveat to consider is that wind eroded terrain often harbors a seasonally shallow snowpack and has more shallow points.  Under some conditions, this can be a recipe for developing trigger points or faceted weak layers.   

You can look for physical evidence and textures to identify wind eroded slopes. Credit: Crested Butte Avalanche Center.