Observer Name
Curtis A.
Observation Date
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Avalanche Date
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Region
Provo » Provo Canyon » Timpanogos » North Peak » Cold Fusion
Location Name or Route
Cold Fusion
Elevation
10,300'
Aspect
Northwest
Trigger
Snowboarder
Depth
Unknown
Width
50'
Carried
1
Comments
Party of three, we stopped at about 10,600 ft. up Cold Fusion due to increasing cloud cover and signs of wind slabs. All three of us ski cut across the slope and then again back across. I was the last down on the second ski cut and triggered a wind slab. I kept a float but was unable to escape, air bag deployed and was able to self arrest on a small tree after being carried about 150 ft. The avalanche continued on down the run without much propagation until near 9,700 ft. where it dropped down as a hard slab avalanche (estimated 2 to 3 ft crown).
FORECASTER COMMENTS:
I just got off the phone with Curtis who was caught in the wind slab in Cold Fusion. Couple bullet points:
- They have all taken a level one class or greater.
- All members of the group read the Provo forecast. Even though they live in SLC.
- As they were climbing up the line, they noted how the snow was changing and they didn't like it so they stopped 500' from the summit.
- They all knew the storm was coming and they wanted to sneak in a big line before the danger increased and limited objectives.
- They all communicated well and decided it was too dangerous to reach the summit.
- They skied one at a time and slope cut the upper reaches of the line.
- It was the 3rd person to slope cut the line that triggered the wind slab.
- It was very scary for the person caught as they had the choice to fight to the left or right of the line. They made the choice to fight for the skiers left and it turned out to be a good decision as the main debris flowed to the right. They don't think they would of made it out before it triggered the secondary slide.
- The skier was able to deploy their airbag easily, one they noticed they were being caught and carried.
- Everyone in the group was carrying beacon, shovel, probe and some with airbags.
The wind slab that was triggered was about 1' deep and unknown how wide. The debris traveled roughly 600' down slope before triggering a secondary avalanche that was 2-3' deep and 60-80' wide. The secondary avalanche was much larger and traveled much faster. it was easily deep enough to bury a person. This avalanche stopped a few hundred feet above the summer road. See pic for details.
In hindsight - they felt the avalanche forecast was spot on. They all talked about the decision that was made and felt it was a good objective for the day. My feedback was that the forecast was for major winds out of the SW and that line would load under those conditions. Heating and warm temps may have played a role but up to the point of the avalanche many of the classic red flags were missing.
The group did ski one at a time from safe point to safe point and tried to minimize their exposure to avalanches.
Photo: The top zigzag represents the slope cutting effort the group made. The circle is where the person was caught in the wind slab and stopped shortly after. The horshoe line is where the deeper pocket was triggered and the lines at the bottom is where the debris finally came to a stop.
Coordinates