Avalanche: Little Superior

Observer Name
Kobernik
Observation Date
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Avalanche Date
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Little Superior
Location Name or Route
Little Superior
Elevation
10,100'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow
Depth
9"
Width
60'
Vertical
400'
Comments

Viewed this skier triggered new snow slab just after the skier triggered it. The skier is still standing on the bed surface in the second photo. I don't think he went for a ride, just probably got surprised a bit.

A group of us were just about to go over and ski the same line and most likely one of us would have triggered it. We had already skied the lookers left hand side of the slope. The area where the slide broke is a few degrees steeper and is also a known repeat offender. Knowing that this is a new snow instability issue, we were willing to chance skiing the same line.

Things were much less sensitive again today compared to Friday. The few periods of sun did not heat things enough to make conditions unstable. The biggest concern was still lingering new snow instabilities within the newest snow as demonstrated with this avalanche.

Coordinates