Avalanche

Avalanche: Upper Weber Canyon

Craig GordonUintas
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Quick report

Slope Angle
35°

Avalanche

Slab Width
30 m
Weak Layer
New Snow
Trigger Type
Skier
Vertical Fall
122 m
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
25 cm
Trigger Detail
Intentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Start Zone Elevation
2896 m

Road cuts and gully features like in the image above, were hyper-reactive midday as snowfall rates spiked

Snow doesn't like rapid change and that was glaringly apparent as todays storm settled in and lit up the eastern front, rapidly stacking up 10" of snow in a matter of a couple hours (17" storm totals since 17:00 hrs 3-22)

Snowfall reaching nearly 5" an hour produced very tender shallow soft slabs which went from ridiculously easy to initiate, to hair trigger in just a matter of minutes as winds bumped just a titch... into the teens and low 20's. These were generally benign and very predictable avy's. This was not only a special day to be out and about with a super solid crew, it was truly an amazing meteorological event to witness!

Over-the-hood and over-the-head.... avy-savvy, snow-pros Dave Kikkert and Andy Nassetta implementing some throttle therapy whilst product testing in a big open meadow.