Avalanche

Avalanche: Meadows

Nathan ChaszeykaSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
30 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Skier
Vertical Fall
381 m
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
33 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Start Zone Elevation
2926 m

Shooting cracks and collapsing had occurred in several locations prior to triggering this slide so our guard was up.

While skinning on the ridge proper, we triggered this slide skinning above a wind loaded area. It started as a shooting crack across the width of the area that slide and was accompanied by a large settlement. The snow shifted, hung up momentarily then quickly gathered momentum and flushed the full run of the slide path.

The weak layer appeared to be the new/old snow interface from the 1/6 storm.