Observer Name
Andy Dorais
Observation Date
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Limber Pine
Location Name or Route
LCC Canyon Limber Pine Couloir
Elevation
10,300'
Aspect
South
Slope Angle
37°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Density Change
Depth
6"
Width
200'
Vertical
1,000'
Comments
Forecaster Comments (Trent Meisenheimer): Andy Dorais was kind enough to let me write this on his behalf. The party was about 50-100' vertical feet into their decent when they triggered a small wind slab. He was quick on his feet and headed skiers left to a safe location and was not caught or carried.
The avalanche was roughly 200' wide and 6" deep. It was triggered on a small sub ridge to skiers right that was cross loaded due to the northwest winds this am. The width was more lateral rather that horizontally wide. Meaning it propagated along the subridge to the skiers right more than across the chute.
Couple learning objectives:
1. Skiing off the moving slab of snow was a good move on the skiers part.
2. The members in his party were out of the way of the avalanche below him.
3. Leap frogging down the chute going from safe point to safe point was key.
4. Always keeping islands of safety in sight and using them in confined gullies like this.
Thank you Andy for sharing this information with the community as it's very helpful to other users.
Video
Video
Coordinates