Avalanche: Moonlight

Observer Name
Julian and Field
Observation Date
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Avalanche Date
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mineral Fork » Moonlight
Location Name or Route
Mineral Fork at the top of Moonlight
Elevation
9,300'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
14"
Width
70'
Vertical
600'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Comments
Skier ski-cut the top of the main steep entrance to high line, sluffed a bit of snow down towards the second drop. No wind slab here. Splitboarder skied the top part of Highline without incident but cut a sharp turn where the second drop begins and triggered a storm slab which propagated ~20 feet to each side. He lost balance and deployed his airbag as he was carried 100 feet with the snow, ending up on top. The storm slab/sluff ran 5-700 feet down slope. D1/R1 in forgiving terrain. Wind slabs weren't the only concern today!
Triggered loose dry slide approximately 400' below ridge near the bottom of the chute. I was carried around 50', stayed on surface with use of airbag, and was able to easily exit slide area unassisted.
Coordinates