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Avalanche: West Monitor

Observer Name
Michael Janulaitis
Observation Date
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Monitors » West Monitor
Location Name or Route
West Monitor
Elevation
9,800'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
35°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
10"
Width
30'
Vertical
600'
Comments

The blower powder from yesterday was a distant memory today. The wind had its way with the snow creating some drifts and cornices in places rarely seen and in the wrong direction. In the just the last 2 days the wind has created large drifts and even cornices on the Fin. In West Monitor, Mr. Whites tracks from yesterday were already covered up. I was able to get a small manageable wind slab to pop out on my descent of West Monitor. The snow ran on an old melt-freeze crust. The crown clearly shows 2 layers that slid but the second layer appeared to be isolated to just beneath the cornice. I'd like to give a thanks to the group that was on top that gave a shout out when the slab failed. I wasn't going to bother posting this but when driving home the slide was highly visible from US40 so I thought I should share.

Coordinates