Avalanche: Catchers Mit 4/14/2011

Observer Name: 
Gindlesperger, Winslow Passey, Robbins
Observation Date: 
04/14/2011
Occurrence Date: 
04/14/2011
Occurrence Time: 
2:00pm
Region: 
Catchers Mit
Kessler Peak
Big Cottonwood Canyon
Salt Lake
Location Name: 
Kesler Peak, East side, North facing slope
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Location

40° 37' 25.41" N, 111° 39' 53.8308" W
Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
9700'
Aspect: 
North
Slope Angle: 
40
Trigger: 
Skier
Trigger: additional info: 
Unintentionally Triggered
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type: 
Soft Slab
Weak Layer: 
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth (avg): 
12"
Width: 
150'
Vertical: 
300'
People Involved
Caught: 
1
Carried: 
1
Partly Buried: 
1
General Comments

Breaking trail from Catcher's Mitt area back around to original uptrack. We heard a whoomp and remotely triggered a small pocket 30 ft. wide 1 ft. deep, continued to look for lower angle terrain, and heard a whomp and this slab broke above. It broke 100 ft above Gindlesperger and carried him into a tree where the snow piled up partially burying him with only head, one arm and backpack visible. He was unijured and second person (Passey) was intentionally spread out and able to approach and dig him out easily. The run before we skied Catcher's Mitt, and triggered two soft sluffs that were slow moving and managable but ran 500ft. down the slope. This was East facing. The sun came out and was quite warm, so we decided to move around to the more North slope to regain our uptrack!

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