Observation: West Bowl 2/2/2012

Observer Name:

Adam Fabrikant

Region:

Salt Lake
Big Cottonwood Canyon
Silver Fork
West Bowl

Observation Date:

02/02/2012

Location or Route:

West Bowl, SIlver Fork, BCC

Weather

Sky:

Scattered

Precipitation:

Light Snowfall

Wind Direction:

East

Wind Speed:

Light

Weather Comments:

The snow kept up throughout the day and the wind direction changed from North to East. It was interesting to see the N to S ridge line containing cornices going both onto the North side of the ridge that were stubborn and the south side contained a few new fresh cornices that were very week and sensitive. Yesterdays avy report mentioned this might occur so I figured I would contribute a few photos.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth:

New Snow Density:

Low

Snow Surface Conditions:

Powder

Snow Characteristic Comments:

Light snow that barely accumulated throughout the day, made for better skiing conditions.

Red Flags

Recent Avalanches

Wind Loading

Cracking

Red Flag Comments:

There have been some slides in west bowl with convoluted crowns in the steeper trees on a east aspect. They occurred about 7-10 days ago.

Primary Concern

Primary Concern:

Deep Slabs

Probability:

Considerable

Aspect:

North

Northeast

East

Northwest

Elevation:

High

Trend:

Same

Primary Concern Comments:

We skied the main gut of the bowl, which we skied a week ago with no avalanche activity. Our concern and risk would have been much higher had we skied the Northern aspects in the bowl that probably contained a greater amount of facets and steeper terrain.

snow_profile_location:

Comments - Photos - Videos (group 1)

A CT at 10,000 feet, East aspect, gave us a CT 16 Q1, it broke at 64cm in our 120cm snowpack at this location. Around 40cm there was a knife hard layer for 4cm with facets to the ground underneath.

Comments - Photos - Videos (group 2)

Two photos of cornices produced by East winds. One is of actual cornice forming and the other is showing how sensitive and reactive they were in comparison to the cornices on the Northern side of the ridge that have been there for a while.

Observed Danger Rating:

Considerable

Forecast Danger Rating:

Considerable