Avalanche: Reynolds East Face

Observer Name
UAC Staff
Observation Date
Friday, February 16, 2018
Avalanche Date
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Reynolds Pk » Reynolds East Face
Location Name or Route
Reynolds Peak
Elevation
9,200'
Aspect
East
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow
Depth
3'
Width
50'
Vertical
300'
Comments

Received report from human-triggered wind slab on east-facing Reynolds Peak:

>>>>

By the time we were at the reynolds/ butler fork saddle snow was 16" new with moderate w/nw wind.

Approached Reynolds summit kicked a few cornices with no results. Dropped in and skied a line. Snow on the first few turns was cracking and quite deep. 2+ feet due to wind loading.

Second run walked to summit. Brisk n/nw wind transporting a lot of snow. Approached the wind pillow on the summit and got a collapse. Result was a 50+ foot slide 40" crown running full track. I moved down the ridge another 50' and dropped in. Same as before the top 30' of the run the snow is deep and cracking due to wind transport.

My impression of the snow pack is it is extremely complex. There are ice layers, buried wind slab, graupel and then the weak snow down near the ground.

Danger wheel is key here. Steep, wind loaded slopes will slide and run full track. However this slide did not propagate to an extreme width. On this slope which has slid the slide could not step down. Who knows elsewhere?