Avalanche: Meadows

Observer Name
L. Dunn
Observation Date
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver Fork » Meadows
Location Name or Route
BCC>Meadow Chutes>El Rollo
Elevation
8,900'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
10"
Width
50'
Vertical
300'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Comments
There was about 10" of new snow on the Meadow Chutes today It was snowing light to moderate during the day along with about an hour of sunshine around 10am. There were some wind gusts on the ridge, but mostly winds were calm. Gorgeous dendrites and a little graupel fell during the day with total additional accumulations of about 2". Our party of three skied approximately Brad's Line from the ridge to the summer trail for our first run. The snow was right side up powder and if you were the slightest bit on the north side of the compass there was no supportable surface until the lower third of the run where the old snow surface became more obvious, although the skiing remained quite good to the bottom. On our second climb we continued along the ridge southward towards the Football Field where some of the usual suspects appeared to be doing laps. We skied from the ridge near 9700' on the northern edge of the Football Field and down to the bench just above El Rollo at about 9000'. During our two climbs and the skiing we did, we saw no signs of slab formation. We really saw no signs of any wind effect at all. Even along the ridge the usual wind drifts were covered with a blanket of soft new snow. We experienced no cracking while climbing and no sluffing during our skiing. El Rollo is steep pitch of approximately 400 vertical feet. I don't know the exact slope steepness, but definitely 35 degrees or more for the first 200 vertical. I was quite excited to ski El Rollo, the snow was excellent, the skiing was effortless powder that billowed up to your waist or higher. El Rollo was going to add a bit more steepness and make the skiing even better. From the bench you could see the entire slope below us from top to bottom. I went first and my two skiing companions watched from the bench. I expected I might trigger a sluff, but I wasn't worried about a sluff from 10" of new snow on a slope with only scattered trees and no rock/cliff obstacles. About 5 turns in I sensed snow was following me down the slope, I figured I had triggered a sluff, no big deal, the snow was so good the sluff would be good skiing, too, if it caught me. Soon I was enveloped in a powder cloud and swept off my feet. I stayed on top of the moving snow and was carried about 100 vertical feet and I was able to regain my footing and got back up on my skis and skied my way out of the debris to skiers right. The debris continued another 100-200 feet down the slope. I had never been tumbled and my head never went under the snow. Now I was out of the debris, standing in fresh snow next to a large tree (perceived safety). I had a radio, but my 2 companions did not, so I began yelling up to them to descend on the bed surface where I had already cleared the slope. They couldn't hear me. They later said as they watched me ski away, I disappeared in a powder cloud. They decided to traverse skiers right to less steep terrain. Unbeknownst to them, one of them triggered another slide directly above me. I was more than a little dismayed to see a wall of snow about waist high accelerating towards me. It was no contest, I was swept off my feet and down the slope another 100' into some small aspens. Again I was able to stay on top and kept my feet downhill. I used my skis to block the small trees as I hit them and grabbed onto some other small trees to come to a stop. I was unhurt, but I lost both my poles somewhere in the mayhem. My companions descended the shallower slope off to skiers right and said they saw me standing among the small trees and I appeared to be just fine. They were still unaware we had triggered some 10" deep soft slab avalanches and that I had gone for a ride. In the attached pictures taken from where I stopped, you can see the 10" crown which I'm guessing was about 50' wide, but the debris field is pretty extensive in the photo. The debris ran about 300 vertical feet. I don't know how deep the debris pile was, but safe to say it was a good thing I stayed on top. As for lessons learned, clearly having multiple radios might have prevented the 2nd avalanche. As for misreading the snow and the presence of a slab that was able to support propagation at 8900', mid slope in scattered trees when we hadn't seen even a hint of such conditions all day? I just expected a manageable sluff, and I guess you just don't know what you don't know. I'm still in disbelief of what happened, I completely underestimated the risk on what seemed like a benign day...I'm looking forward to seeing if there were other incidents like this one today. If anyone finds my beloved two white/black BD adjustable probe poles, I would love to get them back, they shouldn't be too far above the summer trail on El Rollo.
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