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Accident: Cardiff Fork

Observer Name
Cody Hughes
Observation Date
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Avalanche Date
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork
Location Name or Route
Powerline Ridge (Cardiff)
Elevation
9,400'
Aspect
Northwest
Slope Angle
40°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2'
Width
200'
Vertical
200'
Caught
2
Carried
2
Buried - Partly
1
Injured
1
Accident and Rescue Summary

Party involved reported: the second skier on the slope triggered the slide, was caught and carried, and sustained a laceration from hitting a tree. The first skier on the flats below was buried to their neck, and unable to deploy their air bag. Some gear lost and damaged.

Comments

This avalanche was originally reported on Sunday, Jan 14, by Cody Hughes: My partner and I were back in Cardiff doing laps on powerline ridge when on our 2nd lap down in the morning around 11:00 noticed the debris pile coming out of the trees while we were transitioning in the flats below. Saw tracks skinning out of debris. We went back up to investigate the crown and what we discovered was quite alarming. Skier tracks going into the crown and disappearing. The avalanche broke on facets near the ground and ran through very tight trees into the basin below. How someone could survive or come out unscathed from this avalanche mind boggles me. The ride looked very intense. SS-ASu-R3-D3-O

Video