Avalanche: Catchers Mit

Observer Name
Jim M
Observation Date
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Kessler Peak » Catchers Mit
Location Name or Route
Kessler, Catcher's Mitt
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
East
Trigger
Natural
Depth
10"
Width
30'
Comments
Two naturals to report in Catcher's Mitt. (East facing Kessler) One flushed out East Chute from the top. (See 1st photo) It ran just past where I am standing taking the photo. Not too much oomph left in it by the time it reached us. Another ran down the SE facing cliffs of the Catcher's Mitt from the summit. This happened about an hour+ later on our second ascent. (2nd pic shows location. Vis N/G) We couldn't see it but we could hear it loud from the ridge across the way.
Conditions changed fast between our 1st and 2nd runs. First ascent, 8-10" on top of a spongy wet base was well bonded in our areas of travel. Winds were low and we didn't observe any wind effected snow. Some shallow wind slabs cracked out near the bottom of our first run, as there were moderate winds at the bottom of the Cardiff drainage. By the time we ascended for our second run, winds had picked up enough to fill in our up track in places. Another couple of inches fell between laps and we were noticing more cracking at our skis up high. According to my partner, my last run initiated a decent size slough...Quitting time!
Coordinates