Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 38°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 457 m
- Weak Layer
- Facets
- Trigger Type
- Natural
- Vertical Fall
- 244 m
- Avalanche Type
- Hard Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 91 cm
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northeast
- Avalanche Problem
- Persistent Weak Layer
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2926 m
Photo and news of this very large natural avalanche was texted to us on Christmas Day by Norm Goltra, who was spending the Holiday in the Bunchgrass Yurt. A natural avalanche that occurred during a windy early morning storm front on Christmas Eve Cornice Ridge is a popular slope for sledding, but the shallow snow cover this season has kept people from being able to access it, and like most other large avalanche paths in the region it has been mostly untracked so far.
Thanks to this information, I was able to get up to the site on Boxing Day. Video and my photos are from 12-26-2013.
Difficult to describe the scope of this in words so here's a selection of photos.