Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Observation Date
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Avalanche Date
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Region
Uintas
Location Name or Route
Yamaha Hill
Elevation
10,000'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Unknown
Depth
6'
Width
250'
Comments
Spotted this slide on the drive to work today. My first thought was human caused, but after looking around at the debris which had a few inches of new snow on top, this likely occurred from gusty winds overloading the buried weak facets. Or possibly this was triggered from riders on the ridge which I could not confirm. The avalanche depth ranged from a couple feet to over 6' and failed on facets above a crust formed back in October. Walking up the bed surface there was still a slick firm crust with weak sugary snow that will get buried with future storms and this could be a repeater slide later this winter.
FORECASTER NOTE- Ted knows the western Uinta's better than anyone around and his observations, snow and avy expertise are top notch. We were a bit baffled by this one. The tracks near the slope were from yesterday's group of riders who DID NOT trigger the slide.... there was a few inches of snow on the bed surface from the night before. We talked this one through and concluded the slide was remotely triggered either from low on the slope or from the ridge above Yamaha Hill.
Coordinates