Avalanche: Main Days

Observer Name
SD
Observation Date
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Avalanche Date
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Main Days
Location Name or Route
Main Days
Elevation
10,400'
Aspect
East
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Density Change
Depth
2'
Width
60'
Comments
I and my party of 3 others poked around Main Days, noticing firm wind slabs immediately off the ridge, but no amount of stomping from the top could get them to move. Since the snow was visibly softer and the slope mellows fairly quickly here, we decided we could manage this and still ski Main Days. We all skied the first run without an issue. We did notice cracking from the storm slab and we had small slabs release in a few steeper sections near the waterfall exit. Not enough to bury someone, and with a clean run out, we decided to go up for another lap and choose even mellower lines with forgiving run outs. On the second lap, I cut further to the left where the slope was fairly mellow and I wasn't worried about anything breaking above me. However, the slope rolled over to about 38 degrees for a small section and as soon as I hit it the slope broke all around me. Interestingly, the snow was so soft I didn't feel a thing(in fact I didn't even know it was happening and kept skiing normally for probably 6-8 turns until I heard one of my partners yelling and I looked back and saw the snow chasing me and the crown where I had skied. I cut out to the left of the run out and all was fine. Since Main Days has only a few relatively short steep sections that have a real likelihood of sliding, we felt that we had a manageable avalanche problem. With how much cracking and small slabs we were popping out, I would say the old snow surface is bonding rather poorly, it might have started faceting a bit during this quieter period of weather, something to pay attention to the next few weeks.
Coordinates