Avalanche: Moffit Peak

Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Observation Date
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Avalanche Date
Monday, April 11, 2022
Region
Uintas » Moffit Peak
Location Name or Route
Moffit Peak
Elevation
10,500'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
36°
Trigger
Natural
Trigger: additional info
Cornice Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
8'
Width
150'
Vertical
500'
Comments
I spotted this late season impressive natural avalanche from the highway this morning. It did not look like much from a distance, but once I was able to get up close this is rather impressive. My guess is a large chunk of cornice broke off and pried out this big chunk of snow. I would think it would take a good thump to get something this big to release and from what I could see it did break into some old weak snow once it got going. This little corner of the Moffit Peak ridge just gets lots of wind from southwest through northwest and loads this slope. It has avalanched a few times this season and would think there was plenty of weak snow with lots of rocks always visible here. I would sure think this is an outlier and it took just the right amount of force and weak snow to get something like this to release. Always fun and a great learning opportunity to try and figure how these things work.
Coordinates