Avalanche: Ant Knolls

Observer Name
Meisenheimer and Staples
Observation Date
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Avalanche Date
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Region
Salt Lake » Snake Creek » Ant Knolls
Location Name or Route
Snake Creek
Elevation
9,400'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Unknown
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2'
Width
200'
Vertical
250'
Comments
Date of this avalanche is estimated and it may have been a natural. A group of snowmobilers on an evening ride discovered it. This slide is a good example of where avalanches breaking on facets near the ground are most likely to happen - it is a very steep rocky slope that gets wind loaded at the top. The slide broke at the ground on top of rocks that were exposed. It looked to be new snow just below the ridge - below the ridge, the avalanche stepped down into old weak (faceted) snow. Our best guess was the deepest part of the crown was around 4' deep. This slide was large enough to snap trees around 4-6" in diameter. Impressive.
Coordinates