Whumping noise (Sign of weak layer).

[Highfly]

Has anyone ever heard it? Is it load? Could you hear it with a sled running, In motion?

 

[Clode]

I have only ever heard this with the sled off, its creepy

 

[moyiesledhead]

You can hear it and feel it. Probably not when you're in motion though. Heard/felt it 3 or 4 times on Tuesday. It's mother nature screaming at you!

 

[giddyup]

i have felt it and seen it and heard it. i agree i dont think you will feel it when you moving on a sled, a couple of weeks ago it was happening several times to us in the fernie area because of the conditions. the first time its a little strange

 

[Lund]

Has anyone ever heard it? Is it load? Could you hear it with a sled running, In motion?

Its air pocket in the layers of the snow, generally in areas with alot of windblown snow.
It is common on a corniche or overhange and if your in these condition you should leave the area, unless your on flat ground the snow is unstable.
It would be unlikely to hear anything with the sled running.

BTW, you can't feel it or see it unless you actually fall into it or see someone fall into it. There has to be a load to make the snow load collapse...the whumping sound.
When i say fall into it i don't necessarly mean falling but you could be just standing on it...above it...and the snow collapses alittle or alot, depending on the condition. Then yes you can feel it and fall into it depending on alot of things.

 

[Highfly]

Awesome guys. Thanks for all the info.
I remember talking about it in my AST1 class so I know that it can be bad news, just have never experienced it so was curious.

 

[imdoo'n]

one of those danger signs. best to get out of the area quick.

 

[Clode]

the last time I heard the whump, we were riding on a flat meadow in the mountains, I was parked and a sled went by me and the snow made the noise, you don't have to be in the big hills to have this happen.

 

[Lund]

the last time I heard the whump, we were riding on a flat meadow in the mountains, I was parked and a sled went by me and the snow made the noise, you don't have to be in the big hills to have this happen.

Correct, but atleast your sure that your not going skimming with your body across flat ground....hahaha
The air pockets are created by wind blown...so yes flat meadows and lakes where wind is present can WHUMP hehehehe

 

[Lund]

I've ran into this you could say phenonmenon mostly while telemark skiing, as we get into places most sledder's cannot go and there is no noise other then your self.
But i have encountered it while sledding also but only after shutting down the sled. Usually your surrounding are good indicators of the snow conditions if you know what to look for, something you tend to learn quickly as a telemark skier as you cannot get away like you can on a sled.
As a telemarker you do find your self much more aware of things and surrounding's, this is very helpful for sledding. Most sledder's move too quickly to realy be aware but once they are aware can get out much quicker.

 

[pano-dude]

heard it and seen it lots while ski touring. its spooky when it happens as you're skinning up a slope..... time to retreat.

 

[moyiesledhead]

Its air pocket in the layers of the snow, generally in areas with alot of windblown snow.

Well.....not really. It's the collapse of a weak layer......anywhere. Check this link:

[SIZE=+1]Whumpf:[/SIZE]

Whumph has actually been adopted as a technical avalanche term to describe the sound of a collapsing snowpack when you cross the snow. For instance, “we got a lot of whumphing today,” or “the snowpack whumphed like rolling thunder just before it released and caught us.” This is the sound of nature screaming in your ear that the snowpack is very unstable. Most snowpacks collapse onto a “persistent” weak layer such as faceted snow, depth hoar or surface hoar, although occasionally whumphing occurs on very wet snowpack as well.

 

[Shadam]

most sledders will not notice whumps ... I got a massive slide 2 days ago and didnt feel or hear anyof it over my idling sled. buddy was aways a way and heard it all. said it was amazing noise.

as a sledder have you ever been picking your way thru a sheltered treed area and seen a little tree shake and drop its snow? that means you've had a settlement. I have never felt or heard it onmy sled.
from my days of snowboarding one gets very farlimure with all things avy related, especially if you have a high risk tollerance.
this then leads to remote triggering ...

this is the next subject we need to talk about on this site.

 

[Summitric]

I've experienced it many times, but the worst was probably when sbr and i were up in renshaw on one of our first trips, before any avy training was even available, and we were both stuck up high on a heavily loaded slope and 3 feet fresh powder, and we were just unpacking to start shovelling and felt and heard the loud whumph.... Eerie, at the time, and back then we never thought much about it, and there wasn't any one else around us at the time......... Could have been real bad, real quick

 

[niner]

This happened a couple years back but I had parked my sled and walked over to help a buddy get his sled unstuck on a hill. Was the hill most guys dump there gas at keystone. Anyway made my way over and just about had him out and some guy highmarks us by 20 ' , loops right around us. As he goes by the whole hill goes "wumf". Needless to say one more yank he was out and we were ready to go lay a beaten on this bone head. Lots of lessons learned that day.

 

[whoDEANie]

That noise is usually a thick layer of hoar frost crystals collapsing. If you're standing on it, you can probably even feel it.

 

[senorjeem]

I have heard and felt this while meadow riding. In this case there was a layer of hoar crystals standing on edge, tilted over about 20 degrees from vertical and they were the size of twonies, very cool. Anyways the next snowfall was very large fluffy flakes that came down and basically bridged the gap between these hoar crystals at the top and then this was followed by a continuation of a pretty large dump of beautiful 2 foot deep powder ( the very reason we were out there rippin er up) We stopped for a break in a meadow that was probably close to 80 acres of this amazing powder and I guess because the sun was on it and we were providing a trigger, at least half of the meadow fell as the hoar crystals collapsed under the weight. That is a pretty huge area to "Whumpf" and it was a bit eerie, even though we were on the flats. Pretty cool that we had recently had our Avy courses, so we had a half an idea what was going on, but by no means experts. We traced the fracture around by riding around it and as we went, more areas dropped around us as we rode. We couldn't hear it while we rode, but you couldn't miss it when that whole meadow spoke up. Sure don't wanna experience it from a runout zone!!

 

[SLEDBUNNYRACING]

I've experienced it many times, but the worst was probably when sbr and i were up in renshaw on one of our first trips, before any avy training was even available, and we were both stuck up high on a heavily loaded slope and 3 feet fresh powder, and we were just unpacking to start shovelling and felt and heard the loud whumph.... Eerie, at the time, and back then we never thought much about it, and there wasn't any one else around us at the time......... Could have been real bad, real quick

Someone was look'n out for us that day.....


Sent from my phone ---- is anyone there ?????

 

[ferniesnow]

A lot of good information in the previous posts. I haven't seen or experienced the wind loading part that was talked about but I suppose if the wind blown snow was to be deposited over a suspended snow pack, it could be felt there also.

With the different layers throughout the season there is settling and faceting. There is "suspended snow" in Mother Nature's snow pack and all it needs is some additional weight. I have heard it, seen it, felt it, and most of all I have seen the little tree tops moving just above the snow. Most of the time one feels it just as one stops or maybe another joins a stopped group. "Whump" and there is a slight feeling of the snow dropping and noise of the air escaping. In the regen areas (new tree plantations) it is quite common for the little trees to wiggle.

 

[bhowes]

Also have heard this lots of times when out group stop quite often just sitting around bs ing can't say I have ever felt it but have had a feeling or " spidey sense " if you like of real danger when I hear it have heard it quite light barely a noise and heard it quite load ( low freight train rumble in distance ) always sets off the internal time to bug out signal with me and have never dismissed it for sure use it as an indicator