Avalanche

Avalanche: Freeland

KellySalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
9 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Skier
Vertical Fall
30 m
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Slab Thickness
36 cm
Start Zone Aspect
West
Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Start Zone Elevation
2957 m

What was interesting is that almost directly across from this avalanche on an east facing slope (Grizzly Cup) at 9,900' was a smaller natural wind-drifted snow avalanche. It really shows me how much strong winds can vary regardless of the direction that nearby weather stations are reading. In this case Honeycomb at 10,500' was blowing primarily from the south 20 gusting to 30 MPH and Hidden Peak 11,000' just down canyon was blowing from the west-southwest in the 30's gusting to the 50's MPH