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Avalanche: Ridge East of the Dog Leg (pt 9014)

Observer Name
Erik Syrstad
Observation Date
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Avalanche Date
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Region
Logan » Providence Canyon » Dog Leg Trees » Ridge East of the Dog Leg (pt 9014)
Location Name or Route
Elevation
9,100'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
42°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
3'
Width
600'
Vertical
Unknown
Comments

We remotely triggered a HUGE hard slab in the slide path just east of Dog Leg. We were well below the ridge on a relatively low-angle slope when we decided to head down - we each did a hard ski cut over a small, obvious pillow - maybe 30 degrees at the steepest - towards a very dense stand of trees. Neither cut released the pillow, but the second remotely triggered a monster hard slab further up the ridge. Pic#1 shows approximately where we started our ski cuts when we triggered the slide. We were safely out of the slide path in the trees, but had a nice view of the river of debris washing by and waaay down through the trees. It appears that relentless NW winds have deposited massive amounts of snow in the concave NNE slope, and an old cornice / crown helped trap the wind-blown snow rather than let it blow up an over the ridge. The slab was knife-hard, with concrete-like blocks gouging paths through the trees. A significant amount of new snow (well below the ridge) was also involved. Aspect: average NNE. Elevation: 9000'. Slope: 35-45 at the top. Depth: between 1 and maybe 6 or 7' (the middle part of the crown was monstrous). Average about 3-4' - the fourth picture shows a typical section of the crown; the middle part was at least double in height. Width - enormous - I'm guessing 600'. Vertical - ~600'.

Comments

"Took us completely by surprise, although nothing is really all that surprising this season."

I'm calling this an unintentional trigger since the avalanche was much bigger and in a different location than expected with the ski cuts.......

Comments

The avalanche was triggered from near the location the photo was taken.

Coordinates