Avalanche: Back Bowls

Observer Name
B
Observation Date
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Avalanche Date
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Brighton Perimeter » Back Bowls
Location Name or Route
Needle Chute/Brighton Back Bowl area
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Graupel
Depth
2'
Width
300'
Vertical
350'
Comments
After making several slope cuts at the entrance/top of the Chute, only initiating minimal surface sluffing, rider made 6 turns through the Chute. When he broke out of the Chute he made one more harder turn and it broke just below his feet. Rider easily skied off the slab to his right. Slide most like was a Storm Slab with a contributing factor of Wind Loading. Weak layer may have been graupel pooling as it propagated well to rider's left under cliff bands, and this is where the slide was it's deepest. Where the rider initiated the slide it was 6 to 8 inches deep at the most, and on the left flank it was at least 2 feet deep. The SW winds definitely played a big role in loading the left side of this slide, as the fetch above Figure 8 is very large. This Chute is the steep Chute in between Figure 8 and 100 Turn Gully.
Coordinates