Avalanche

Avalanche: North Tent Mountain

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Avalanche

Slab Width
1524 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Natural
Vertical Fall
213 m
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
152 cm
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
3414 m

This is the widest avalanche that I have ever seen on the Skyline. This thing was massive. It released sometime between noon on Sunday, Feb 22 and 8am Tuesday, Feb 23. It should be noted that there was no new snowfall during the time it released. The trigger was solely wind drifted snow from a period of strong westerly wind.

The fracture line averaged 5 feet deep. There were sections that were easily 10 feet deep.

This avalanche measured 1.3 miles wide!!

It wrapped from southeast facing all the way through the northerly facing slopes to a far chute that has just a touch of a northwest aspect.