Avalanche: Woolly Hole 3/22/2011

Observer Name: 
Kobernik
Observation Date: 
03/22/2011
Occurrence Date: 
03/22/2011
Occurrence Time: 
Morning
Region: 
Provo
American Fork
Woolly Hole
Location Name: 
East face of Woolly Hole
Printer-friendly version

Location

40° 25' 19.0056" N, 111° 39' 56.1492" W
Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
9900'
Aspect: 
Northeast
East
Trigger: 
Natural
Avalanche Type: 
Soft Slab
Weak Layer: 
Density Change
Depth (avg): 
2'
Width: 
400'
Vertical: 
1000'
General Comments

Got a glimpse of this natural from the ridge of the UFO Bowls.  Size is estimated but here's what I base it on.  I measured 19" of new snow since Saturday night in the UFO Bowls.  There was a slight weakness in the low density snow from Saturday which was most likely the weak layer of the avalanche.  The Woolly Hole appeared to be getting more wind transport then the UFO Bowls.  Since the crown was that visible from that distance it must have been at least 2 feet deep.  It was still fairly fresh and I submit that it ran around daybreak during an intense period of snowfall coupled with moderate to strong winds.

There was one class one soft slab natural on a north facing aspect of the UFO Bowls as well.  Some evidence of some shallow loose snow activity during the storm as also noted.

Out of wind effected terrain the snow was right side up and stable.  We had what I call a "cautious" powder day.  I would not have felt good about getting into any big terrain that was wind effected.  The wind slabs should continue to stabilize and the focus will shift to heat initiated activity for Wednesday.

IMG_0332.jpg
Javascript is required to view this map.

Site Built by Dharmatech
Site Refresh by Flint Creative