Avalanche: Cardiac Ridge

Observer Name
mark white
Observation Date
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Cardiac Ridge
Location Name or Route
Cardiac Ridge
Elevation
10,700'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
36°
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
18"
Width
100'
Vertical
1,000'
Comments

Went up to take a look at upper Cardiff today to see if there was any activity during the last storm. Noted a few slides on Cardiac Ridge, the largest one being right down the middle, starting zone was the NE facing gully off the top, the crown was located right at the bottom of the rock bands. Crown varied from 10 inches up to 2 ft, and the debris ran 1000ft down to lower angle terrain. I was surprised how far it ran with the low amount of snow we have but I think it started up high on NE facing wind loaded terrain that was holding old faceted snow from the previous storm, once it got out of the chute it hit the slick melt freeze crust that was present on the East facing right above the dirt and took all the new snow for a ride to the bottom. This slide was connected to more pockets that pulled out on the high NE facing chutes off the top of Cardiac Ridge, I'll put these smaller pockets in my observation. Photos full slide, debris looking up from the bottom, Crown, using the bed surface as a safe route up.

Coordinates