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Avalanche: Main Days

Observer Name
JP
Observation Date
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Main Days
Location Name or Route
Main Days
Elevation
10,500'
Aspect
North
Trigger
Skier
Depth
8"
Width
800'
Carried
2
Comments
Party of four. Skinned up Emmas approx 9:30 am. Skied Hideway, small slow push-avalanches witnessed with short running lengths. Heavy wet snow coming down all day. Many discussions about safe travel and safe protocols. Also winds from last night were a hot topic. Established skinner up ridge separating Main Days and Upper days with the objective of skiing Main Days. At the top skiing tactics were discussed. Skier 1 ski cut across small gully to a sub ridge with a small stand of trees. Skier 2 cut just above tracks to spot next to him. Skier 3 cut higher still and crossed a steeper section close to the main ridge. He triggered a wind slab that propagated up to the main ridge. Avalanche triggered up slope approx 8 feet. I yelled out a warning. Skier 1 was "sat down" Skier 2 carried 10 feet. Skier 3 carried 20 feet. No burials everyone self arrested on the hard bed surface. Out of my sight (Skier 4 still on main ridge) the avalanche crown ran approx 700 feet plus along the main ridge to the west. As the slide ran it stepped down into the old wet snow and ran into the gully. Entraining old wet snow the slide ran to the valley floor. Skiers 1,2,3 started to search the debris field. Made contact with a solo split boarder skinning on the main ridge. No signals detected. I stayed up and took pictures. Crown 6 inches to 1.5 feet. Wind loaded it ran on a very distinct crust. Team regrouped at the toe of the debris pile did one more search. Circled up did a debrief and went back to the car.
Lessons:
Safe travel protocols were instrumental today.
Our ski cuts (1 and 3) could have been better
We expected the ski cuts would produce a slide in the little gully. The results exceeded expectations.
The forecast was 100% correct today The slide Evelyn Lees predicted was the slide that happened
Coordinates