Observer Name
Greg Gagne
Observation Date
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Avalanche Date
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Rocky Point
Location Name or Route
Rocky Point/Catherine's Area
Elevation
10,300'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
16"
Width
250'
Vertical
400'
Comments
Mark White reported an avalanche on Thanksgiving in Rocky Point area (https://utahavalanchecenter.org/avalanche/40265), and it seems to have repeated sometime during the morning of Saturday Nov 24. The east/northeast face of Rocky Point was wind-loaded from strong westerly winds. The crown was 30-45 cms (12-18") - perhaps closer to 60 cms (24") in places - with a wind-loaded slab that failed on a faceted layer, all on top of the October rain crust. What is concerning is that it's telling us avalanching on top of the old layer of facets haven't cleaned out slopes, so they are just primed for a repeating event. (SS-A-R4-D2.5-O)
This was a large, connected slide - 250' wide - that apparently ran down to the flats, although hard to tell with very limited visibility.
Video