Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 38°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 76 m
- Weak Layer
- Depth Hoar
- Avalanche Type
- Soft Slab
- Start Zone Aspect
- North
- Avalanche Problem
- Persistent Weak Layer
- Start Zone Elevation
- 3018 m
I observed this avalanche in West Bowl on Saturday, 1/23/16, but I do not know exactly when it occurred. The location is about half way between the top of West Bowl and Davenport Hill. It would appear to have been sometime between Thursday and Saturday. Everything about this avalanche is my estimation, and could be incorrect. However, I think it is important to have a record of it, as it looks like a "repeater". It ran to the rocky ground in the upper starting zone, but the relatively small deposition suggests it wasn't the whole snowpack, so I infer that this path has run one or more times before and reloaded with wind deposition from the south side of the ridge. The other interesting thing about this slide is how far visible crowns extend out and down the hill. This is a very large area through which the fracture propagated, or triggered the other mid-slope avalanches sympathetically. Either way, it speaks to the presence of weak snow underlying this particular area.
It should be noted that if this area refills during the next storm or wind event, another avalanche is very likely.
In the picture, I have outlined the visible crowns in red.