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Avalanche: Wolverine

Observer Name
Michael
Observation Date
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Wolverine
Location Name or Route
Wolverine Cirque
Elevation
10,500'
Aspect
Northwest
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
12"
Width
50'
Comments
Skiing a NW chute off the far skier right side of Wolverine Cirque I triggered a soft slab avalanche failing on the interface between the roughly 12" of new snow and the layer beneath it. The first fracture broke at the top of the line in what appeared to be a small pocket of wind loaded snow. As I skied in front of this relatively small amount of moving snow a sequence of 4-5 additional fractures broke in front of me as I skied as quickly as possible th rest of the way down the chute. As I neared the exit of the chute to the apron several more fractures propagated in front of and around me. Fortunately I was able to stay on my feet throughout all of this and carry enough forward momentum to outpace the moving snow. In reviewing the incident, it appeared the slide would have been unlikely to result in a full burial but easily could have become dangerous in hazardous terrain, or perhaps with differnt timing in the same area.
This occurred at around 2pm. While it was overcast at this time and had been intermittently cloudy for the previous few hours it seemed that this slope had received enough sun to make it more reactive than neighboring lines off the cirque. Additionally there appeared to be wind loading at the top of the line, and possibly in some areas lower down.
Video
Coordinates