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Avalanche: Cutler Ridge

Observer Name
Joe K
Observation Date
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Avalanche Date
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Region
Ogden » Ben Lomond » Cutler Ridge
Location Name or Route
Cutler area
Elevation
8,000'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
35°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
20"
Width
100'
Vertical
100'
Comments
We noted widespread collapsing pretty much as soon as we stepped off. As we entered a small canyon that started to result in remoting small slopes on the banks 50+ yards away. When we got higher we could see lots of steeper slopes had naturaled on almost everything steeper than maybe 37 deg. I did a ski cut on the only slope steeper than about 32 degrees on our run. The slope easily collapsed and shooting cracks shot across the top of the rollover and further down the slope but didn't move. About 100 yards further down the same feature, the slope angle increased to 35-38 deg. around a rock outcropping and released an approximately 100' wide by 100' vertical slide that was the full depth of the new snow. We found consistent results to this on various other slopes that we could safely navigate. These were at anywhere from 8400'-6400' in elevation and on SE-E-N aspects. These all appeared to fail on the same layer, which seemed to be on either the old faceted surface from before Friday's storm or the density change in between storms. Sorry for the poor photos but the lighting was terrible and my phone just couldn't cut it. I tried to do some heavy editing to get them to show the slide and cracking but they were not that great.
Coordinates