Avalanche

Avalanche: Two Trees

PaxtonSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
9 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Snowboarder
Avalanche Type
Dry Loose
Slab Thickness
30 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
South
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Start Zone Elevation
2896 m

We had ascended onto Cardiff Peak when we heard from another party that UDOT had closed Little Superior over to Superior and beyond. We had originally set out to do Superior, and being unfamiliar with routes off Cardiff Peak, we decided the best option would be to descend Two Trees and just focus on sluff management. I descended first and tried to cut skiers right as much as possible. I caused some decent sluffing at just over 10,000 feet, but due to low visibility and side cutting across the slope I could not see much other than a good chunk of snow being entrained and running down the slope, enough to take you off your feet. My party and I kept doing segments one skier/rider at a time to keep our eyes on each-other. I got a little further ahead in the middle section and my party lost sight of me. When they skied down after me, they encountered a loose snow avalanche I had released behind me, big enough (and with low vis they couldn't see my tracks clearly exiting away from it) that they both pulled out their beacons and went into search mode. Unfortunately we did not have radios today, but I yelled at them from further below on the slope and they heard me and discontinued looking.