Avalanche

Avalanche: Porter Fork

Seamus DolanSalt Lake
View on map

Avalanche

Slab Width
61 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
61 cm
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Start Zone Elevation
2896 m

All the red flags are present right now. Fresh avalanche crowns right in front of our face and thundering collapses under our feet. I headed up towards Porter Fork saddle as high as I could without crossing underneath avalanche slopes, and I noticed this large avalanche in Main Porter right next to the West Porter saddle. I'm assuming this slide ran naturally but can't conclusively say, because I know people skied into Main Porter today morning because I could hear them skiing out and saw their tracks on my way out. This behavior makes me incredibly nervous for our community. If we don't take a step back, this mindset of "threading the needle" with PWLs is only going to continue getting more people in trouble, or worse.