Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 34°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 46 m
- Weak Layer
- Facets
- Trigger Type
- Natural
- Vertical Fall
- 76 m
- Avalanche Type
- Hard Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 152 cm
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northeast
- Avalanche Problem
- Wind Slab
- Start Zone Elevation
- 3139 m
Took a look at this avalanche on the north end of Double Hill today. It looks fairly recent with the crown still fresh looking and not too much drifted snow on it. It is a hard slab avalanche with some huge bone crushing chunks of snow. It is not a large slide as far as width and slope distance traveled, but the depth is quite impressive with the crown measuring 3-5.5'. I'm still unsure of a cause, my first thought was a remote trigger due to some sled tracks at the bottom and one track above the crown. Knowing the history of how Double Hill is heavily wind loaded and with the bump in winds overnight this could be a natural. The dense wind driven snow was no match for the weak sugary snow near the ground and overloaded the weak snow structure.
Down here on the south end of Double Hill was another natural wind slab that released from steady south/southwest winds. This one has filled in quite a lot, but is a little more connected. It looks like the winds have tipped the scales in some places and the weak snow structure cannot support the dense slab.