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Avalanche: Pioneer Ridge

Observer Name
Brian Muller
Observation Date
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Avalanche Date
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Pioneer Ridge
Location Name or Route
Pioneer
Elevation
10,100'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
34°
Trigger
Snowboarder
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
10"
Width
60'
Vertical
100'
Caught
1
Comments

Snowboarder hiked out of the gate at the top of Crest, towards Pioneer Peak, dropped in one of the shots back into Brighton, ontop of the cattrack, and about 10 feet in triggered this slide. He was knocked off balance a little bit, but rode out of it, and was not really carried by the slide. Averaged about 10" deep, maybe up to a foot, and it was only the top 80-100' below the ridgeline.

Comments

Other comments from the day, cracking and collapsing was easily initiated around ridgelines, and in steep rollovers, with winds remaining in the 40 mph range probably gusting to about 60 throughout the day. It began snowing hard again at Brighton around 2 or 2:30 pm, and really picked up around 4. I expect windslabs and softslabs to be easily initiated again tomorrow with the forecast, and for danger to even possibly go up to considerable with pockets of high.

Coordinates