Avalanche: Alexander Basin

Observer Name
Toddeo
Observation Date
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Alexander Basin
Location Name or Route
Gobblers Knob, East Couloir (Alexanders)
Elevation
9,800'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
37°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow
Depth
10"
Width
40'
Vertical
1,000'
Comments

This was a ski cut (albeit an exposed one) and I would rank this as somewhat intentional and expected. Moved off of ridge and out of windblown snow into an area of scalloped soft snow, was able to feel hard base below me.. Released while turning and ski cutting towards safe island while I was approx. 10-15' away from trees. Made it to trees easily.

Bed surface is a crust, supportable.

Partner skied hangfire without incident. We skied bed, debris (old and new) and flanks into Alexanders without further incident.

Slide fanned out a bit when it exited the couloir. It did not entrain any snow on the sides of the couloir.

Of Note:

Most east facing Gobblers into Alexanders ran during the last storm. There were large debris piles at the base of this run as well as Depth Hoar bowl. (the snow in these piles was soft).These piles were not there prior to the last storm. Everything looked thin (bushes) and we had assumed that we would be dealing with only a partial accumulation of new snow from the last event. Based on the height of the crown (8-10") this appears to have been correct. The snow on west facing Gobblers was deeper (12-14'). This was a repeater in respect to the last storm.

We did know about the slide on Toots from the previous day and assumed that most of the new snow instability had settled out. This is a good case of not abiding by the "one red flag trumps all signs/theories of stability".

Slope angle is at crown, slope is steeper in the neck of the couloir.

I am going to quote Kimbrough "you gotta have a close call once in a while to keep you on your toes"

Photos (flat light)

Close up of crown.

Looking down, toe of deposition is visible on flat

Looking up, note, no large pieces of debris, everything was soft and did not set up while we were there.

Comments

I also included a photo of the slide on Toots, Crown and toe of debris are highlighted.

I was going to post this without my name but Drew said that is too old school, I asked if it was old school in a cool way, he said no.

No other signs of instability or red flags all day.

Avy danger is moderate

Coordinates