Avalanche: Burch Creek

Observer Name
kory
Observation Date
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Avalanche Date
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Region
Ogden » Snowbasin Backcountry » Burch Creek
Location Name or Route
Burch Creek
Elevation
9,000'
Aspect
Northwest
Slope Angle
36°
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
3'
Width
150'
Vertical
350'
Comments
I thought that I had noticed this avalanche on December 4th but did not have a great view from the top of Needles Point. On Thursday December 13th I finally made it out to Burch and could see the avalanche that had occurred at the end of the Nov/Dec Storm cycle. I hypothesis the date because of the lack of new snow covering the debris and crown. The Crown and Debris were still very visible on December 13th. The first two photos were taken on December 4th. The red line depicts the crown and the green the debris pile. The interesting part of this avalanche is this may be the only natural avalanche we have seen failing on the facets formed from oct/nov snow. I had started to gain confidence that this old snow was not reactive in Ogden. I would like to make it to the crown to check it out but time is limited.
I also observed on December 4th what appeared to be another avalanche just to the West of the noted avalanche. I could not tell but the snow cover seemed very thin. I have highlighted this area on the map. I am unsure if this path actually went. I know it is quite a smooth summer surface in that path because last year it went really big.