Avalanche: Lake Desolation

Observer Name
Nick Burr
Observation Date
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Avalanche Date
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill D North » Lake Desolation
Location Name or Route
Desolation lake
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
3'
Width
300'
Vertical
600'
Comments
Big Naturals went on the east side of the ridge adjacent to the lake. Skied down the low angle ridge it and triggered another really large slide in between the slides. Notice the crown in the 2nd photo (looking south) is not present in the first photo (looking north). Also got a look at another faint crown on the some more aggressive terrain on Desolation peak, from afar, which is pictured between the aspens. The final photos show the 3 slides. the two outer ones being naturals and the middle one I triggered remotely probably 200 feet away, hard to say as I didn't watch it happen. All of these slides failed on facets and were big chunky wind slabs. NE/ E seemed to be quite loaded.
Hope everyone keeps it cool when the sun comes out, these are large heavyweight pwl avalanches.. Also notice the toe of the slide went all the way to the lake. Yikes.
Coordinates