Avalanche: South Monitor Bowl

Observer Name
mark white
Observation Date
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Avalanche Date
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Monitors » South Monitor Bowl
Location Name or Route
South Monitor Bowl
Elevation
9,400'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
36°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
3'
Width
400'
Vertical
Unknown
Comments
I was walking the ridge line towards S Monitor and I was pretty sure nothing was going to happen because I was there Tuesday and the ridge was wind scoured and firm with only a little bit of old faceted snow in a few spots. Well I must have stepped on one of those spots, got a large collapse and saw a powder cloud. I remotely triggered it from at least 70ft away on the flats. When I went to investigate it I realized that a shooting crack traveled at least 300ft from the initial avalanche, across flater terrain and triggered another avalanche in the main bowl mid-slope, that slide had way too much hangfire for my liking and I stayed away from it. Both slides ran on depth hoar/ facets at the ground interface and dirt and grass was noted in both bed surfaces. Breaking trail up USA Bowl I was getting collapses constantly and figured thinks were nearing the breaking point.
Video