Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 31°
Avalanche
- Weak Layer
- Surface Hoar
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Avalanche Type
- Hard Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 76 cm
- Trigger Detail
- Unintentionally Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- West
- Start Zone Elevation
- 3018 m
We visited the site where two very experienced, avy savvy local skiers remotely triggered this large slide near Slader Ridge in Upper Weber Canyon. The initial slide sympathetically released a large avalanche a couple hundred feet away to the south.
Unlike most hard slab avalanches, rather than shattering like a pane of glass, the raincrust allows the snow to remain intact as one cohesive piece of snow. It finally breaks up as it slams into trees, piling up huge amounts of bone crushing debris.
The raincrust has provided the perfect protecting layer, essentially allowing the surface hoar/facet to combo to remain intact. Each time it snows or the wind blows, this
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notoriously tricky, persistent weakness will react and we'll see tricky avalanche conditions.
Brian stands next to a lower portion of the crown which broke nearly four feet deep.