Avalanche

Avalanche: Miner's Basin

TrenbeathMoab
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Avalanche

Slab Width
183 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Vertical Fall
91 m
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
76 cm
Start Zone Aspect
North
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
3414 m

I went up into Miner's Basin to follow up on another reported avalanche and then discovered this in a basin further up the drainage but basically at the same elevation and aspect. It's actually three separate slides, but it's basically one event and they all appear to be connected and or sympathetically released. It's a bit of a mystery when they ran. A fairly widespread cycle occurred during the storm event of Nov 27 (18" @ 3.7" SWE) but most observed activity had filled back in somewhat. This one, and the other previously reported slide in the basin appear to be far more fresh. No weather event beyond the 27th could have produced natural avalanches, nor is there any evidence of a human trigger in this rarely traveled area.