Avalanche: Wolf Creek

Observer Name
Michael Janulaitis
Observation Date
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Avalanche Date
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Region
Uintas » Wolf Creek
Location Name or Route
Neeley Bowl
Elevation
9,500'
Aspect
Northwest
Slope Angle
32°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
16"
Width
200'
Vertical
100'
Comments
Later in the day, on my last run, I triggered this hard wind slab that formed as a result of the last storm cycle. I didn't know it has slid until skinning back up which indicates to me that I triggered it from down below and it pulled up before failing at which point I was off. It ran on the new snow old snow interface. I found a pencil to one finger hard layer that formed during the beginning of the last storm cycle. On top of that was a one finger hard wind slab and what appeared and felt like small grained facets between the wet and cold layers however I didn't take pics of crystals to verify. This was all new wind slab and no old snow pulled out. Just a few feet away from the slide, and off the slab, I found blower light power on top of our rain /wet snow layer that formed at the beginning of the last storm. Unrelated to the slide, I found noticeable basal facets up to 8 cm thick at the ground interface. Added Notes: I ran into a group and they asked me when the slide occurred before I had skied it. I didn't see any evidence of a slide or crown at that point but the light was a little flat at that point and they had come form another vantage point than myself. I did notice that on Friday someone had put an up track in the middle of the slope adjacent to the slide within 100 feet of the skiers right flank. Also when investigating, I noticed part of the crown closer to the skin track was filled in more than I suspected. I even dug around a little to see how fresh the snow was below the crown and judging by the density of the new blown in snow it seemed like that section of the crown could have been from day before. I suspect the skinner remote triggered the slide just as I did at the bottom of my run. Looking at the very last pick we see the second slide pulled even closer to the skin track. The swatch of the slope was clean where I had skied and as you can see in the second to last pic the runout is centered on my tracks.
Coordinates