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Avalanche: Banana Days

Observer Name
chester
Observation Date
Friday, March 18, 2011
Avalanche Date
Friday, March 18, 2011
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Banana Days
Location Name or Route
bannana days
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
37°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Weak Layer
Density Change
Depth
6"
Width
25'
Vertical
100'
Caught
1
Comments

top of bannana days there is a chute which had some crust to it. skied down 150 vert and broke two out unintentional within 200 linear feet of each other. first one was 100 feet below ridge, 80 feet above throat. first one broke at my feet I stopped and it went by me. the slap was 6"and broke on a convex about 15-20 feet. suprisingly firm and heavy layer (3 finger) debris went down throat. I followed debris snow into throat. I put in a agressive ski cut and slope held so felt pretty good entering throat put one turn in and it must have broke then (not sure) probably 20 feet wide 6" deep. I tried to get an edge in and did, but was not able to stop (4 mph carry) basically felt like a sizable heavy sluff on my back. at end of throat was able to keep traveling left out of it. this slab isnt very deep but packs a punch. Noticed it was fairly windy today 15gust to 30ish and skin track filling back in on ridges, but not real fast still havent figured out what slab layer was. didnt notice snowballs or other big warming signs left at 1pm., snow getting very heavy towards bottom of bannana days lessons, if you trigger a slab even if it is small. take 5 minutes to acesss what hapened, your options etc.

Coordinates