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Avalanche: Ogden

Observer Name
Brandon Everett
Observation Date
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Avalanche Date
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Region
Ogden
Location Name or Route
Snowbasin Side country (Hells Canyon "The Toilet Bowl")
Elevation
7,400'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
35°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Wet Slab
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
12"
Width
50'
Vertical
1,000'
Comments

These slides occurred in the hells canyon area in the Snowbasin side country called "The toilet bowl" 3 slides total, all running quite fast! faster than a normal wet side. entrenching the ground and involving a lot of snow. Most were initiated by roller balls from ski cuts and propogated after roller balls were about basket ball size, sympathetic release on slide walls once debris pile passed. Special note on the 3rd slide, In my set up of a rescue senario for my avy class i experimented in deployment of my dummy Bil (blue shop cover all's) and filled him with snow (approx 70 lbs) tossed him down the slop and after flopping over once and 5-10 sec later he was off to the races.... took some impressive tumbles getting caught in a terrain trap and ended up getting wiped out by the post release from the upper side walls. the debris pile i couldn't ask for more for my class 75' wide and 100' long.

There is a unedenifyable weak layer in the snow pack that I believe played apart in the speed and amount of snow that was entrained the temp was around 40 deg f. its been along time since I've seen wet slides like this in march. Hoping to find this week layer sat during our class check back then.....

Coordinates