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Avalanche: West Scotties

Observer Name
Josh
Observation Date
Friday, February 24, 2023
Avalanche Date
Friday, February 24, 2023
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine » West Scotties
Location Name or Route
West scotties
Elevation
9,000'
Aspect
Southwest
Trigger
Skier
Depth
15"
Width
30'
Comments
Did two laps in the same general vicinity on west scotties. First lap noted no instabilities on the slope we skied, but noticed some wind slabs on the way up. Second lap the sun had come out, and triggered this slide. I was the second skier, and failed right where my partner had turned. It seemed to take a pretty big, or repeated trigger to get the slab to move. It failed at my feet, and was slow moving to start, but picked up a good bit of steam and ran a few hundred feet. The bed surface was still soft, so we assumed it was a wind pocket, or could have failed on a density change in the new snow, that became more reactive with a bit of warming.