UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Avalanche: Ivory Slabs

Observer Name
Dermott McHugh/UAC staff
Observation Date
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Avalanche Date
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Ivory Slabs
Location Name or Route
Cardiff fork - lower ivories
Elevation
10,000'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
35°
Trigger
Skier
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
12"
Width
200'
Vertical
Unknown
Comments
We were skinning up to East fork from Cardiff and we're noticing more wind loading than expected. We were skinning across a lower angle bench with a steeper roll below it, when the leader noticed he had skinned onto a bit of a slab and turned around to say we should spread out. At that point the second triggered a collapse with slight cracking around him, and noticed the avalanche running on the steeper roll below. No other parties in the area and we were all safe above the roll.
It appeared to be a medium to hard wind slab which formed overnight, because the skintrack was covered. In places the slab was probably 1-2 feet thick and the crown varied between about 1 ft and a couple inches. Crown was probably 200ft wide. Bed surface was 35 degrees. It was remote triggered from approximately 100ft away. It ran out maybe halfway to the valley, running through trees with quite a bit of force, but not breaking them.