Join us at our 2nd Annual Blizzard Ball

Avalanche: Salt Lake

Observer Name
B
Observation Date
Friday, December 6, 2024
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Girl Friend (Chute to rider's left of V Tree) Pioneer Bowl area
Elevation
10,000'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
40°
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
20"
Width
35'
Vertical
300'
Snow Profile Comments
No Graph, but here are the details:
Crown Profile: Crown depth: 50cm, Slope angle: 40 at the top and 35 on the flanks, Aspect: NNE (10 degrees), Elevation: 10,000, Width: entire chute, but it's early season and narrow: 10.5 meters, Vertical: 100 meters, Structure-Ground up to top of Crown: 10cm of facets (2-3mm) Fist, 3 cm deteriorating m/f crust-Knife minus, 10 cm facets (1.5-2mm) Fist, DF and NSF Fist Plus at surface, Boot Pen: to the ground, Ski Pen: 10cm.
Likely occurrence: Slide looked very similar to Honeycomb avalanche I observed and reported. There was 5cm of faceting surface grains on top of the bed surface. Best bet would have had a Natural SS release near the end of the latest event during a period of High PI, and this stepped down to create the above slide. Crown broke at the entrance to the bowl as it opens up, and this occurred at a rocky ledge. Crust was not visible in the rocks, and they were cleaned off; but directly below the rock ledge it ran on facets above the m/f crust. Of note, in areas undisturbed by this or any other slide activity the HS in the region was at least 85 to 90cm.
Coordinates