Avalanche

Avalanche: Sheep Shit Ridge

E. MurraySalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
457 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
91 cm
Trigger Detail
Remotely Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
2865 m

Remotely triggered a large slab that propagated through most of the ridge into Nordic park. The slab was 4F + at the bottom and fist at the top. This slab failed on the November drought facets sitting on top of a deteriorating crust.

As we approached the ridge we noticed that the skiers left side had gone natural sometime during the night and as we moved towards the PC ridgeline got a large booming whompf. As we peered over the edge noticed we triggered a sizable avalanche. We continued along the ridge realizing that the initial collapse propagated about a quarter mile up towards the PC ridge leaving large blocks of debris. Crown size varied from 2 feet to 4 feet.