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Avalanche: Provo Peak

Observer Name
Norton
Observation Date
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Avalanche Date
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Region
Provo » Provo Peak
Location Name or Route
Whittemore Canyon
Elevation
9,100'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Depth
14"
Width
50'
Comments
Our party of two planned to ski East Provo Peak via the ridge on the west side of Whittemore Canyon. Started skinning at 7,300' around 8:00am. We encountered 5-6' shooting cracks on the W aspect around 8,500', so we abandoned our objective and decided to ski a NE facing slope around 9,000'. Just before dropping in, a 12" deep slab that was roughly 60' wide broke below us and ran about 150 feet. We decided to descend the ridge, and while ski cutting another slope on the NE aspect we triggered another avalanche about 100' wide and 14-16" deep, also running about 150 feet. We had started out the day primarily concerned with wind affected slabs, but realized there were storm slabs on most aspects. Descended low angle terrain back to our vehicle. Noticed an additional 3-5" of snow accumulation from 8:00-10:30am.
Coordinates