Avalanche
- Weak Layer
- Facets
- Trigger Type
- Natural
- Avalanche Type
- Wet Slab
- Start Zone Aspect
- East
- Avalanche Problem
- Wet Snow
Today was going to be a cooker of a day in the Wasatch so the goal was to acheive the objective early and get out quickly. We arrived at the Cardiff Fork parking lot at about 6 AM and started our tour at 6:15. The goal was to summit Mount Superior between 9:30 and 10:00 which we accomplished. We started skiing the left chute in Cardiac Bowl by about 10:15 and the north/northeast facing aspect skied very well with nice corn on top but below 9700 could have spent a little more time in the sun. We did witness rollerballs already forming on the due east slope off Cardiac Ridge especially around the exposed rocks. With the overnight temps not going below freezing even at 11,000- everthing was heating up early. We made it down to the cat track and at 8,100 we came across a MASSIVE wet slide that ran across the cat track. We arrived around 11:00 and there was a big group of 12+ people on the uphill side of the slide (south side) and they said the slide happened about 20 minutes before. The slide came off the due east side of Kessler Peak in the Catcher's Mitt run area. The depris field was probably 10-15 feet high so this was no slow moving wet slide and if anyone had been on the track- they would have buried deep below a concrete field of settled snow.
With these extremely warm days and no overnight freeze- these become reactive very early.