Avalanche: Uintas

Observer Name
Mike J
Observation Date
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Region
Uintas
Location Name or Route
Hoyt Area
Elevation
8,600'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
36°
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
12"
Width
100'
Vertical
80'
Comments
I was in some low altitude terrain today and on my way to try to push on this slope but discovered it had already naturaled. The slide was about a foot deep, 100 ft wide, ran about 80 feet and contained about half of our new snow since the high and dry running above the melt-freeze. Some old growth dead fall stopped the slide. With that information and a cross reference with the snow stakes it looks like this happened on the 10th mid-storm cycle. I performed ECTs in the corner of the flank and crown and my tests failed below the melt-freeze between 11 and 14 taps. Although the entire block collapsed only half fell into the pit both tests.