Avalanche

Avalanche: Days Fork

Plow Goat, Claw, Brief, and Stir FrySalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
30 m
Weak Layer
Density Change
Trigger Type
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
25 cm
Start Zone Aspect
Northwest
Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Start Zone Elevation
3109 m

Our party of four ascended Days Fork from spruces for a long walk to the ridge with LCC. We intended to ski Jaws, Oingo, or one of the other N facing couloirs. We noted signs of instability on NE/E aspects on our ascent of Hideaway Park and West Bowl, both failing 8-10" deep on a graupel layer. This matched our expectations given all the NE/E avalanches reported yesterday.

On the summit of West Bowl, we discussed and agreed to ski down together to the tipping point of Shark Fin, the east most couloir of our options. Snow was light and we experienced lots of sluffing on the upper, lower angle slopes. One member of our party performed a ski cut across the top of the steep (35°+) entry to this slope, causing the face to immediately connect and break beneath him. He completed his traverse to an island of safety before we transitioned to climb back up and complete our day on less steep terrain.