Observer Name
Davis Paxton
Observation Date
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Avalanche Date
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine Chutes
Location Name or Route
White Pine
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
Southeast
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Depth
6"
Width
150'
Caught
1
Comments
We started up white pine early, thinking that the storm slab was settled out well enough, but still worried about a wind slab potentially having formed above us. When we got high in the couloir in a bottleneck, it started snowing hard, and several dry loose rushed past us, one of them significant enough to drift us downslope a few feet and cover us in snow up to our waist. This, and when our skin track suddenly started collapsing cohesively on itself 12-15" down made it a no brainer to transition and get down quickly.
On our way down, my buddy triggered a shallow slab on the side of the couloir that propagated 50 yards on some graupel, but was only a couple inches deep. Just another sign of instability and an indicator to us of a potentially bigger slab up above us from the monster winds these last few days, so we kept riding till we were out the apron. Our day reminds me a lot of the report that just came in from memorial... except we got luckier. Hope everyone stays on their toes this weekend, it seems a bit more complicated than a normal spring storm.
On our way down, my buddy triggered a shallow slab on the side of the couloir that propagated 50 yards on some graupel, but was only a couple inches deep. Just another sign of instability and an indicator to us of a potentially bigger slab up above us from the monster winds these last few days, so we kept riding till we were out the apron. Our day reminds me a lot of the report that just came in from memorial... except we got luckier. Hope everyone stays on their toes this weekend, it seems a bit more complicated than a normal spring storm.
Coordinates