sliding snow load 9asce 70

huangyhg

sliding snow load (asce 7)
i am trying to to design two sloping skylight(10:12 and 4:12 pitch) on either side of the the building that is 11' below a hipped roof(6:12 pitch). according to asce 7, i am to consider snow drift on top of the balanced snow load and also sliding snow. my problem is that asce 7 doesn't state anywhere how i'am supposed to determine how wide the sliding snow load is. according to asce 7, i am to use the full balanced snow load of the upper roof and no reduction should be taken due to the 6:12 pitch of the gable roof. that means that i have to impose 2 x balanced snow load plus the drift from the upper roof. doesn't this seem a lot(conservative)? any comments?  
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mfdj9,
you may want to have a look at the commentary, asce7-98 pages 285 & 286, asce7-02 pages 319 & 320.