Avalanche

Avalanche: Flagstaff Ridge

StegmaierSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
9 m
Weak Layer
New Snow
Trigger Type
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
25 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Start Zone Elevation
2896 m

Triggered a small wind slab avalanche while skiing the bottom 1/3 of Flagstaff gully.

On the skin up we noticed some red flags including evidence of wind loading, wind transported snow and some cracking in the top 8-10 inches of the snow.

Avalanche was triggered while descending, near the bottom of the shoulder, after one in our party skied a bit farther south onto a slightly more east aspect.. The small transition in aspect seems to be the cause. Broke about 2ft uphill of skier and 30 ft in front.

Avalanche ran 100ft downhill to a less steep bench.