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Avalanche: Bells Canyon 3/1/2010

Observer Name:

Zach Grant

Observation Date:

03/01/2010

Occurrence Date:

03/01/2010

Occurrence Time:

Afternoon

Region:

Bells Canyon
Salt Lake

Avalanche Characteristics

Elevation:

9200'

Aspect:

Southwest

Slope Angle:

Trigger:

Skier

Trigger: additional info:

Unintentionally Triggered

Avalanche Type:

Hard Slab

Weak Layer:

Surface Hoar

Depth (avg):

2.5'

Width:

70'

Vertical:

500'

People Involved

Caught:

Carried:

General Comments

The party was in Bells Canyon, they determined a safe spot,
which 3 members of the party had stopped by, as the 4th member came into
the chute, the entire thing slid. Two of the members got off the slab
and ended up right at the crown, one of the other members grabbed hold
of a tree, the other slid quite a ways down, grabbing onto a tree, until
a rather large block came down and smashed him off the tree. After
sliding down a little bit further, he was able to dig into the bed
surface. This was reported to me by the member of the party who had to
grab onto a tree and was hit off by a large block. He reported the
crown being 2 feet deep and approximately 50 feet wide.