Avalanche: West Monitor 12/31/2011

Observer Name: 
mark white
Observation Date: 
12/31/2011
Occurrence Date: 
12/31/2011
Occurrence Time: 
1:30pm
Region: 
Salt Lake
Park City Ridgeline
Monitors
West Monitor
Location Name: 
West Monitor- PC ridge line
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Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
10000'
Aspect: 
Northeast
Slope Angle: 
38
Trigger: 
Skier
Trigger: additional info: 
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type: 
Soft Slab
Weak Layer: 
Facets Below Crust
Depth (avg): 
15"
Width: 
175'
Vertical: 
800'
General Comments

Yeah I know same place different day. Actually triggered two seperate avalanches in West Monitor today, much larger and hair triggered than the rest of the slides i,ve seen this year. First slide was a bit of a suprise, with no cornice to kick could only get a small chunk of snow about the size of a softball to roll down the hill rolled about 100ft down the slope then fractured out a slide 10" deep and about 75ft wide, ran quite aways out onto the flats. Suprised it took only a small chunk of snow that weighed next to nothing to initiate the slide. Pics of the powder cloud, crown and debris pile.

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General Comments 2

Second slide was quite a bit larger 175ft wide 2ft deep at the deepest part of the crown, also ran way out on to the flats and created a large powder cloud. Initiated this slide from a small cornice drop onto a 30degree slope above a rock band. Felt a large collapse and the whole slope spider webbed into large chunks of hard slab, couldn't tell if it made it over the rockband until we saw the large powder cloud and the debris pile at the bottom. Both avalanches slid on facets below the rain crust wich was very fragile on this slope. the larger slide had obvious wind loading and wind slab. The first slide was a bit more interesting from the fact that it pulled out quite aways down the slope where it was not as likely to be wind loaded, with a small snow ball triggering it. The time of messing around in the facets has come and gone, seems like it doesn't take much weight now to trigger a slab avalanche with serious consiquences.

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General Comments 3

Looks like clouds in the sky, but it actually the powder cloud from the larger slide, and some hammered trees

west m avy 12-31 023.JPG
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