Avalanche

Avalanche: South Fork Lake Canyon

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Avalanche

Slab Width
76 m
Weak Layer
New Snow
Trigger Type
Natural
Vertical Fall
91 m
Avalanche Type
Cornice Fall
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
Cornice
Start Zone Elevation
3078 m

Numerous cornice falls noted on Sunday. I found them in Spring Creek as well as a number of locations in both south fork and north fork of Lake Canyon. I assume we'd see the same thing in Rolfson, Staker, Jordan, etc.

These cornices did not seem to be triggering slab avalanches on the slopes they fell onto. As far as I could see, they were just entraining surface snow as they slid down. This is good news in that cornice falls of this size produce a pretty large impact onto the slope and if the old persistent weak layers of facets didn't fail from these impacts, it means they are gaining strength.