Avalanche: Davenport Hill

Observer Name
CBrown
Observation Date
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Davenport Hill
Location Name or Route
NE Davenport Hill
Elevation
10,100'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
40°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Cornice Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2'
Width
80'
Vertical
Unknown
Comments

Cornices are getting a little larger, finally and they are quite sensitive. Walking close to the ridge line, a few cornice brike off easily when walking too close to them. The cornice themselves are large enough to be a hazard, give them healthy space when walking ridgelines (picture 9). Two large cornice did not trigger an avalanche on terrian slightly over 35*, but just entrained the new snow and into the old snow within its direct path. One of these cracked and spiderwebed an adjacent chunk of snow on 30-35* terrain but it did not run (pictures 1, 2, 3).

One smaller cornice triggered an avalanche in N-NE ~40* starting zone that broke down into the old snow ~2-3' deep (pictures 4-8).

Stability on the sough side had minor slabbing between 10,100'-9,700, but couldn't get snow to move <35* S-SW, and between 9,700'-8,700' no slab and some dry loose >38* S-SE at 16:30. Observed the WNW winds loading the south side of the ridge @ 15:00.

Coordinates