Valanga

Avalanche: Ivory Slabs

Dermott McHugh/UAC staffSalt Lake
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Quick report

Slope Angle
35°

Avalanche

Slab Width
61 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Skier
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Slab Thickness
30 cm
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Start Zone Elevation
3048 m

We were skinning up to East fork from Cardiff and we're noticing more wind loading than expected. We were skinning across a lower angle bench with a steeper roll below it, when the leader noticed he had skinned onto a bit of a slab and turned around to say we should spread out. At that point the second triggered a collapse with slight cracking around him, and noticed the avalanche running on the steeper roll below. No other parties in the area and we were all safe above the roll.

It appeared to be a medium to hard wind slab which formed overnight, because the skintrack was covered. In places the slab was probably 1-2 feet thick and the crown varied between about 1 ft and a couple inches. Crown was probably 200ft wide. Bed surface was 35 degrees. It was remote triggered from approximately 100ft away. It ran out maybe halfway to the valley, running through trees with quite a bit of force, but not breaking them.