Observer Name
Aaron Wernerehl
Observation Date
Friday, January 14, 2011
Avalanche Date
Friday, January 14, 2011
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Brighton Perimeter » Lacawaxan
Location Name or Route
Backside of Claytons
Elevation
10,400'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
40°
Trigger
Snowboarder
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
6"
Width
80'
Vertical
150'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Buried - Partly
1
Comments
Did a couple of slope cuts to see if the wind deposit would hold and it seemed fine. Took a turn and everything started moving around me. It ripped out about 25 feet above me but I was able to quickly dig into bed surface and did not get carried very far. Seems to be pretty firm wind slabs forming from the 2-3 inches we got last night. Glad I was not above large cliffs!
Forecaster comments - Seems likely that the weak layer may have been the 4" of 4% snow from last Sunday that faceted over the past few days. Consistent with other reports...
Coordinates