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Avalanche: Humpy Peak

Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Observation Date
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Avalanche Date
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Region
Uintas » Bear River Ranger District » Humpy Creek » Humpy Peak
Location Name or Route
Humpy Peak
Elevation
10,200'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
32°
Trigger
Snowmobiler
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Weak Layer
Surface Hoar
Depth
3'
Width
150'
Vertical
600'
Caught
3
Carried
3
Buried - Partly
3
Comments

This avalanche occurred sometime on Thursday and the information is through second hand knowledge. A group of six snowmobilers were riding in the Humpy Peak area when one rider was high marking and triggered a slide that caught other members of the group that were at the bottom of the slope. The rider who triggered the slide was able to stay on top through swimming motions while at least three people were partially buried. No injuries were reported, but machines were badly damaged and had to be towed out.

Comments

The Humpy Creek area has been very active with numerous human triggered avalanches and this exact slide path was triggered back on 1/23/11 and failed on surface hoar that formed in early January. Pictures are posted of the first slide in the Uinta avalanche list. This recent occurrence also appears to have failed on the January 8 surface hoar, but this time the starting zone was higher on the slope. As Craig pointed out this could have been a much larger and more tragic outcome had this slope not released previously, as the debris would likely have been much deeper.

Coordinates