Avalanche

Avalanche: Bonus Bowl

Kelly, StaplesSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
152 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Natural
Vertical Fall
244 m
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
76 cm
Start Zone Aspect
North
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
2743 m

Mark and I went to look at the Thousand Springs Avalanche and on our way up the ridge to try and find the crown face we observed this avalanche in Bonus Bowl that went from the highest point in the bowl to the skiers left in the open portion of the bowl and was spotty through the trees on the skiers right side. The debris ran well to the flats and had trees in it. The avalanche looked to have failed on facets near the ground because of all the brush and summer surface was visible. The light in the photos make it hard to see the crown. The more east facing side of the bowl took more wind from the west wind event and had a deeper crown face. It was hard to get photos of this side, but it was lower in elevation than the north facing part of the starting zone. This avaalnche ran approximately 800' vertical feet from 9,000- 8,200' stopping in the flats well above the MCC road. This avalanche from Bonus Bowl did not hit the MCC road. See the rest of our observation from Bonus Bowl HERE.

Photo 1 and 2- Crown face and bed surface

Photo 3- outlined toe of debris with vegetation/timber visible