Avalanche

Avalanche: North Fork Seeley Canyon

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Avalanche

Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Snowmobiler
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
3200 m

This avalanche had very fresh debris which leads us to believe it released in the last day or two.

There has been no significant weather in the last few days to cause natural avalanches. There are hill climbing sled tracks visible adjacent to the avalanche. There are also sled tracks that have been covered up by the avalanche debris. All of these factors indicate this was a sled triggered avalanche.

This slope is one of the usual suspects and it is not out of the ordinary to see avalanches like this here.

The slope is east northeast facing and is very prone to getting loaded by wind drifted snow from the west. It is also the correct aspect and elevation to hold old buried weak sugary snow that formed in mid December. This "faceted" snow from mid December is what all of the bigger avalanches have been failing on over the last three weeks.