See Collapse. Whumpf: 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. Additional Terms: Anchors Hard Slab Avalanche Slide Aspect High Danger Sluff Avalanche High Marking Snowpit Avalanche Path Isothermal Soft Slab Avalanche Avalanche Transceiver Layer, Snow Stability Bed Surface Leeward Stability Test Collapse Loading Starting Zone Concave Slope Loose Snow Avalanche Stepping Down Considerable Danger Low Avalanche Hazard Sun Crust Convex Slope Melt-Freeze Snow Surface Hoar Cornice Metamorphism, Snow Sympathetic Trigger Corn Snow Moderate Danger Temperature Gradient Couloir Persistent Weak Layers Terrain Trap Cross Loading Point-Release Track Crown Face Probe Trigger Danger Ratings Propagation Trigger Point Deep Slab Avalanche Rain Crust Upside-Down Storm Density, Snow Remote Trigger Weak Layer Depth Hoar Rime Weak Interface Dry Snow Avalanche Runout Zone Wet Snow Avalanche Extreme Danger Sastrugi Windward Faceted Snow Settlement Wind Loading Fracture Ski or Slope Cut Wind Slab Glide Skinning, Skin Track Whumpf Graupel Slab   This glossary contains excerpts from "STAYING ALIVE IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN", by Bruce Tremper -