Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 36°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 38 m
- Weak Layer
- Surface Hoar
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Vertical Fall
- 244 m
- Avalanche Type
- Hard Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 91 cm
- Trigger Detail
- Unintentionally Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northwest
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2804 m
We received third hand info regarding this slide, so Ted and I went to investigate before the next storm. We found a large slide breaking below the Dr. MLK crust, failing on facets and decomposing surface hoar. It appears the slide was remotely triggered along a spine, in a shallower portion of the snowpack. The slide piled up about 8'-10' of tree snapping debris in this creek bed. The consequences of going for a ride in this avalanches would have been devastating, but fortunately no one was caught and all came home unscathed.
The timber damage was impressive and we noticed Aspen trees up to 14" in diameter getting snapped off. In the distance, you can see a Quakie that had it's top rattled off. Slamming into a tree at a high rate of speed would certainly ruin your day.
The depth of the crown averaged around 3' and we couldn't isolate a column without it failing on weak snow below the raincrust. My snow saw is on the bed surface. In a thinner portion of the crown we performed an Extended Column Test and got the column to fail with 11 taps, breaking below the crust.
Looking from the crown to the toe, this avalanche could have had a really bad ending. Unlike other Springs when the pack gets deep it usually becomes more stable, our tricky snowpack isn't turning a corner towards stability. If anything it's becoming spookier as the surface snow settles into a strong cohesive slab.