Avalanche

Avalanche: Cardiff Pass

M. Maier and E. FullmerSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
12 m
Weak Layer
Wet grains
Trigger Type
Natural
Avalanche Type
Wet Slab
Start Zone Aspect
Northwest
Avalanche Problem
Wet Snow
Start Zone Elevation
3018 m

While skinning from the bottom of Holy Toledo to Cardiff Pass we encountered this wet slab avalanche. Location is approximately 400 feet NNE of Cardiff Pass. It was probably 1 to 2 days old (triggered on 4/8 or 4/7). Notably it cut the well established skin track to the north side of Cardiff Pass. There was a new skin track, much newer and less used, that skirted the toe of the avalanche debris and then reconnected with the more used skin track. It looked like the avalanche had triggered as a wet loose avalanched high on the rocks of Toledo peak then stepped down in the lower slope. There were crowns visible at the top of the main break near the rocks.