Avalanche: South Cliffs Cirque 1/3/2010

Observer Name:

Toby Weed

Observation Date:

01/04/2010

Occurrence Date:

01/03/2010

Occurrence Time:

Unknown

Region:

South Cliffs Cirque
Steep Hollow
Logan River
Logan

Location

41° 57' 39.564" N, 111° 39' 4.0824" W

Avalanche Characteristics

Elevation:

8800'

Aspect:

North

Northeast

Slope Angle:

Alpha Angle:

Trigger:

Snowmobiler

Trigger: additional info:

Unintentionally Triggered

Avalanche Type:

Hard Slab

Weak Layer:

Facets

Depth (avg):

Depth Range:

15" to

Width:

150'

Vertical:

250'

Snow Profile

Snow Profile Comments:

The avalanche ran on 3-4mm faceted snow from November, exposing 11-21-09 dust layer on the bed surface... The snowpack in the area is generally shallow....150' wide crown, 1.5'-4' deep...

General Comments

I came up into Steep Hollow to view evidence of a fairly extensive natural avalanche cycle, which occurred during the 1-1-10 storm.

Video 1:

General Comments 2

The avalanche took out the very bottom of a couple thin chutes and wrapped around a rock outcropping. It stepped down into November facets, and was a dangerous avalanche...

General Comments 3

I'm glad the substantial debris stopped before it hit the area where it looks like riders were hanging out in the path...The avalanche ran right next to many fresh snowmobile tracks, which went about half way up a prominent gully right next to the avalanche.

I'm sure someone has an interesting story from this, and I'd love to hear it sometime....

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