Avalanche: Toledo Chutes 11/29/2010

Observer Name: 
BSO
Observation Date: 
11/29/2010
Occurrence Date: 
11/29/2010
Occurrence Time: 
1:00pm
Region: 
Salt Lake
Little Cottonwood Canyon
Toledo Chutes
Location Name: 
Southern most "chute" in Toledo Bowl
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Location

40° 35' 51.3924" N, 111° 38' 55.3164" W
Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
10500'
and below
Aspect: 
East
Southeast
Slope Angle: 
37
Trigger: 
Skier
Avalanche Type: 
Soft Slab
Weak Layer: 
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth (avg): 
10"
Width: 
100'
Vertical: 
1000'
General Comments

I think everyone who reads this should know I screwed up. I intentionally triggered a soft slab in the very southernmost part of Toledo Bowl, from the peak in the chute that runs about 1000 vertical in a due east direction. I was quite surprised by how far it ran, and I think if someone had been below me but out of sight this slide could have been a big problem for them. I knew know one was there as I had put in the skin track to the peak. I knew this chute was going to move but I was quite surprised how fast and how far it went. I generally try not to be surprised in the backcountry, and I am mad when I get surprised. I think this chute was far more windloaded and denser than I would have guessed from my previous runs in main and banana days on similar aspects. I did have a very small soft slab release at the bottom of main days on a very steep (>45 degrees) aspect, but it was totally manageable and expected. I think this slide surprised me because of how predictable things had been over in days fork. I forgot my camera so there are no pics. (first trip of the season, I was lucky I remembered the beacon). It did pull out parts of the chute that were not directly in the slide path in a sort of sympathetic fashion. The bed surface was pretty soft, not a hard suncrust.

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