UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Avalanche: Red Baldy

Observer Name
Aaron Smith
Observation Date
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Region
Salt Lake » White Pine Dup » Red Baldy
Location Name or Route
SE side of East Pass
Elevation
10,500'
Aspect
Southeast
Trigger
Skier
Depth
15"
Width
45'
Carried
2
Comments
Summary: Slide caused by a wind slab was triggered just below East Pass. 2 were carried, 1 was buried and extracted without injury.
Additional Detail: A party of 4 skiers on AT gear approached Red Baldy from White Pine Fork. On the final approach to Red Baldy's west ridge and on the west ridge itself, the party kicked off a few 2-6 inch wind slabs, all of which broke at the skinners' feet and were manageable. After a few ski cuts, the party skied Ice Fall without incident. The party was breaking trail most of the day, including the skin out to East Pass. About 200 feet before reaching the pass, the 1st skier in the party kicked off a wind slab slide. The crown of the slide varied from 4-15 inches deep and was about 10 feet above the 1st skier. The 1st skier was caught and carried about 10 feet before self-arresting on the bed surface, fully above the snow. The slide was 15 feet wide at the starting zone and propagated around a small band of rocks, reaching a max width of about 45 feet. The 4th and last skier on the skin track, who was about 35 feet below the trail breaker, was hit by the slide. The slide caught and carried the 4th skier 25-30 feet. When the 4th skier came to a stop, the moving snow washed over him and left him buried with the exception of his hand, which was moving above the snow. The 3rd skier on the skin track had a visual of the buried skier, immediately slid down to him, and uncovered his face. No beacon search or probing were required. The buried skier's face was about 18 inches below the snow surface and his skis were about 3-4 feet below the snow surface. The skier's face was buried for 30-60 seconds. His partners extracted him without injury or lost gear. The party then found a safer route to East Pass and returned to White Pine Trailhead.
The party identified a handful of mistakes that were made. First, they underestimated the danger of wind slabs. Everything they'd observed before the slide was only a few inches deep and did not pack a punch, which made the party feel that the wind slabs were manageable. Immediately before triggering the slide, the first skier on the skin track mentioned that the snow was getting more slabby/punchy. Rather than reassessing the route or waiting for the remaining members of the party to skin to safe locations, the 1st skier started skinning up to a small ridge, which he thought would put the party in a safe zone. The rollover on the ridge is where the slide started. Looking back, the party should have stopped and communicated before proceeding. The slope that slid was cross-loaded, and safer snow could have been found by kicking back in the other direction. The starting zone was one of the steepest and most wind loaded areas of the slope. The party did not measure the slope of the starting zone, but estimate it to be 35-40 degrees.
With the possibility of wind slab, the skiers feel they should not have been skinning above one another. All 4 skiers could had noticed this was occurring and could have raised the issue, rather than deferring to the trail breaker.
The buried skier attempted to deploy his avalanche bag, but the bag did not deploy. Afterwards, the bag was tested and still did not deploy, with no defects being immediately apparent. The airbag had not been tested at the beginning of the season.
Coordinates