Avalanche

Avalanche: Boiler Buttress

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Avalanche

Slab Width
24 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Natural
Vertical Fall
137 m
Avalanche Type
Wet Loose
Slab Thickness
51 cm
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Start Zone Elevation
2743 m

We noticed a fair amount of fresh loose wet activity in the buttress area. This wind slab avalanche under the cliffs was triggered by overrunning snow from a natural wet avalanche. The avalanche only involved new snow from 3-22 and overnight accumulations.

I triggered a small wind slab above the crown of last week's Boiler Bowl avalanche, and I was easily able to initiate cracking in drifts. Cracking like this is a red flag indicating potential instability.

Some neat drifting patterns from the sustained northwest wind.