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Avalanche: South Monitor Bowl

Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Observation Date
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Avalanche Date
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Monitors » South Monitor Bowl
Location Name or Route
South Monitor
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Unknown
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Depth Hoar
Depth
12"
Width
100'
Vertical
100'
Comments
We came upon a fresh avalanche in South Monitor. It was not there when we skied by it yesterday. There were two ski tracks by the flank of the slide and two more ski tracks by the other flank, which crossed on top of the debris. I couldn't tell for sure if it was human-triggered or not but it was suspicious. The slab was a hard wind slab about a foot deep and it broke on a layer of faceted snow just under the slab and most of the avalanche then broke to the ground on the very weak depth hoar near the ground. It was a relatively small avalanche 1' deep, 100' wide and only ran 100' to slightly flatter terrain. I did an extended column test on an undisturbed flank wall of the avalanche and it failed upon isolation, meaning it is a very unstable snowpack. The slab properterties seem like the key ingredient for all these human triggered avalanches these past three days. Most of the snow is soft, thin snow with depth hoar as it's lower half. There just isn't enough weight or a slab above the weak layer to produce a slab avalanche. But in places where the wind has created a harder wind slab on top, all the ingredients for a slab avalanche are suddenly present. The danger of the snowpack can suddenly turn from safe to very dangerous within about a foot or so. For instance most of South Monitor has a couple dozen ski tracks on it, but this was the only pocket that slid. So it's a very tricky situation. Most of these dangerous areas seem to be on steep, east facing slopes, at least along the Park City ridgeline. I included a couple photos with my wife and friend waiting on the ridge above until I finished investigating the avalanche.
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