Avalanche: Canyons side country 1/22/2012

Observer Name: 
Willlis Richardson
Observation Date: 
01/22/2012
Occurrence Date: 
01/22/2012
Occurrence Time: 
11:30am
Region: 
Canyons side country
Park City Ridgeline
Salt Lake
Location Name: 
Side Country of the Canyons, Moon Rocks and Home Run
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Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
9200'
Aspect: 
East
Slope Angle: 
36
Trigger: 
Unknown
Avalanche Type: 
Hard Slab
Weak Layer: 
Facets
Depth (avg): 
unknown
Width: 
90'
Vertical: 
400'
General Comments

I was skiing off Saddle Back and saw these two slides. The slide in Moon Rocks went to the ground but not Home Run Bowl.  I poked around in the trees and immediate area beyond the ski area boundary and was very surprised. I took my ski pole and begin checking the layers. There was new snow about two or three feet then the bottom dropped out into sugar snow. I was able to go to the ground. With my pole it took me less that five minutes to make a hole two feet across and four feet deep. I have never seen unstable conditions even in the trees with an angle of no more that 20 degrees. If you look at the Moon Rocks photo, you can see the large crack in the upper right hand corner of the photo. I may go out tomorrow and get look into the trees along Roscoes. It all appeared very dodgy after seeing the reports from Desolation Lake and that area is as mellow as it gets. I may try to get over to Powder Bowl as well.

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