Donate to the 2024 Spring Campaign to help rebuild the UAC website.

Avalanche: Maybird Gulch

Observer Name
Luther Birdzell
Observation Date
Monday, January 28, 2013
Avalanche Date
Monday, January 28, 2013
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Maybird Gulch
Location Name or Route
Maybird Apron
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
35°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2'
Width
200'
Vertical
500'
Comments
D2 R3 Second skier dropping into the Maybird apron on skier's right disturbed a wind pillow and initiated a crack that propagated over 100' to the left and then triggered a hard slab 100' above it. First skier was spotting and alerted second skier of the avalanche. Both skiers turned into the woods on skiers right and were unharmed. We finished our run and investigated more closely on our second lap. A 2' deep blocky hard slab ran on a combination of buried surface hoar and graupel.
Coordinates