Avalanche: Twin Lakes area 4/18/2011

Observer Name: 
Michael
Observation Date: 
04/20/2011
Occurrence Date: 
04/18/2011
Occurrence Time: 
11:30am
Region: 
Salt Lake
Big Cottonwood Canyon
Twin Lakes area
Location Name: 
Sol-Bright Trail
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Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
9200'
Aspect: 
East
Slope Angle: 
Unknown
Trigger: 
Snowshoer
Avalanche Type: 
Wet Loose
Depth (avg): 
12"
Width: 
60'
Vertical: 
200'
General Comments

I had crossed the area on snowshoes earlier in the day. There were two small avalanches observable from Silver Lake area. As a result, I didn't feel comfortable in crossing the Sol-Bright trail in its entirety. I took a few pictures of one of the slides and moved away. I had snowshoed to the lifts at Solitude and as I was returning was startled by this small avalanche to my right heading fairly rapidly in my direction. I was about 10-15 feet into its impending path. I moved quickly out of such and within several seconds the slide moved by obliterating my snowshoe tracks from earlier in the day and continued running into a small stand of aspen nearby. The trees would have likely been problematic had I been caught in the slide's path. The slide was a couple of feet deep and contained some fairly large chunks of snow. The weather was a mixture of sleet/snow/rain with trail breaking very tedious indeed.

AvalancheUp.jpg
AvalancheAcross.jpg
AvalancheToe.jpg
General Comments 2

The perspectives pictured are looking up the avalanche path and also across the path. The last picture shows the toe of the avalanche and the adjacent aspens that the avalanche reached to.

General Comments 3
AvalancheToe.jpg

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