Avalanche: Key hole

Observer Name
mark white
Observation Date
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Avalanche Date
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Key hole
Location Name or Route
Key Hole, Cardiff Fork
Elevation
10,400'
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
11"
Width
35'
Vertical
350'
Comments

Making my way to Cardiff Fork this morning, discovered that the new snow was not bonding well to the old snow surface, set off quite a few shallow soft slabs in Cardiff Bowl and on the ridge line from Cardiff Peak to the Key Hole entrance. Figured that the Key Hole would probably avalanche too, entered on skiers right and about 25ft off the ridge the slope fractured and propagated out about 30 or 40ft. The crown was from 10 to 12 inches in depth and the debris ran about 300-400ft. Not much of a surprise it pulled out, the clues were all there, recent avalanches, wind loading, and new snow not bonding well to the old surface.