Avalanche

Avalanche: Northern Bear River Range

Eric and Amy FlygareLogan
View on map

Avalanche

Slab Width
12 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Snowboarder
Vertical Fall
30 m
Avalanche Type
Wet Slab
Slab Thickness
5 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
Wet Snow
Start Zone Elevation
2530 m

This little avy took me by surprise today. We dropped in at about 9000 feet on a couple of inches of dryer snow. By the bottom of the run the snow had grown substantially heavier and wetter. About 2 turns into this steep rollover and the slab fractured around me.

Luckily it was only about 2" deep and a relatively short slope and I was able to point it and get out of Dodge. The slide ran into the trees and piled up 2- 3 feet deep. Probably not big enough to bury someone, but definitely could have been painful being a tree's piñata. A good reminder that even on a moderate day, things can get spicy with weather changes.