Observer Name
Eric and Cloud
Observation Date
Monday, January 6, 2025
Avalanche Date
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Brighton Perimeter » Caribou Basin
Location Name or Route
Snake Creek / Caribou Basin
Elevation
9,800'
Aspect
North
Trigger
Unknown
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2'
Width
400'
Comments
We observed a medium sized PWL avalanche that spanned the entirety of "The Other Runs" run. We initially saw a 2' crown on the steep headwall, but another vantage revealed that the avalanche propagated across the whole width of the run, about midrun on a mild rollover.
The avalanche appeared to have occurred yesterday. It could have been triggered naturally from the minor wind affect and small cornice, or from the snowmobilers who had come up from Caribou Basin and made some donuts at the base of the slope.
Interestingly, the shading on the Wasatch Backcountry Ski app would indicate that the slope angle is 30 degrees or less. I think the rollover is so small, and there's possibly some text in the app obscuring some very minor shading.
We had been attempting to ski down an adjacent slope that appeared low angle when we saw this crown. We got to a small rollover and decided than even though the risk was
small, the reward was even smaller. So we skinned back up and skied the southerlies.
The very short north facing shot we did ski wasn't any different in ski quality than the south slopes. The snow in this area isn't as light and fluffy and bottomless as in upper LCC, and below 9000' we hit crust underneath.
We observed no collapsing or other signs of instability, and we couldn't get any cornices to drop because they were frozen solid. The pair of skiers that tested the steep Snake Eyes North run also found no instabilities.
Coordinates