Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 91 m
- Trigger Type
- Natural
- Slab Thickness
- 61 cm
- Start Zone Aspect
- Southeast
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2377 m
While skinning up Smithfield Dry Canyon we observed quite a few avalanches that all appeared to be a couple days old (the crowns were sun baked) that looked to have failed on the persistent weak layer, anywhere from 12 inches to an estimated 2.5 feet near the tops of some of the wind loaded ridglines. Multiple also appeared to have shallow crowns above, suggesting that small wind slabs may have slid and stepped down to the persistent weak layer. There was wide propagation with a couple of the slides being hundreds of feet wide and running nearly 1000 feet.
It is worth noting that all of the slides we observed took place on southeast aspects from 7500 feet to about 8500 feet, and most were right around 18". We saw around 10 total avalanches varying in size from 30 feet wide to around 300 feet wide.