Observer Name
Hopkins / Hopkins
Observation Date
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Avalanche Date
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Yellow Jacket
Location Name or Route
Yellowjacket Trees
Elevation
8,400'
Aspect
Northwest
Slope Angle
32°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
Density Change
Depth
Unknown
Width
15'
Vertical
300'
Comments
While doing a connector lap, I was skiing down a pretty benign-seeming slope, maybe 31-32 degrees at its steepest, when I felt and heard a wave of snow behind me, touching my butt and backpack. I was able to ski to the side. We were surprised to see this much touchiness at that low elevation (sub 8500') and on terrain that wasn't that steep. This dry loose avalanche had a lot of weight to it and ran about 300.'
Also of note were widespread avalanches occurring in the Main Gobblers area. We counted 5 parties, 2 skin tracks overtop debris, and large scale dry loose debris from most of the drainages and ski runs. Main Gobblers slide was maybe 50' wide and long running. We could also see a slide in the distance down Davis Gulch. I'm assuming these were skier triggered and that people with more info will report.
Sorry, no photos.
Coordinates
