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Avalanche: Uintas

Observer Name
Tyler St Jeor
Observation Date
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Avalanche Date
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Region
Uintas
Location Name or Route
Currant creek/Tower mountain
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
37°
Trigger
Snowmobiler
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
4.5'
Width
350'
Vertical
200'
Comments

we saw quite a few avalanches in our travels today. All appeared to be naturals with the exception of one that was triggered by a sledder. I'm thinking the naturals all occurred Wednesday during the wind event. I didn't see any that looked like they happened today. It looks like the sled triggered slide happened around noon today. judging by this id say we have turned the corner from the wide spread natural cycle. the snow pack is just comfortable enough that it needs a trigger to set it off. It also sounds like this slide was triggered by the 3rd or 4th track put in, so not only does it need a trigger but it might let that trigger get well out onto the slope before it fails. I saw these slides at varying elevations and slope angles. The most common denominator was that they all had and easterly component to them. The other common trait i noticed was they all ran longer than usual. I have seen these paths avalanche quite a bit, and I don't recall many hitting the road.

Comments

Here is the crown of the sled triggered slide.

Coordinates