UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Avalanche: Slader Ridge

Observer Name
Gordon, Scroggin, Gorsage
Observation Date
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Region
Uintas » Upper Weber Canyon » Slader Ridge
Location Name or Route
Slater Ridge
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
West
Slope Angle
31°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Weak Layer
Surface Hoar
Depth
2.5'
Width
Unknown
Vertical
Unknown
Comments

We visited the site where two very experienced, avy savvy local skiers remotely triggered this large slide near Slader Ridge in Upper Weber Canyon. The initial slide sympathetically released a large avalanche a couple hundred feet away to the south.

Comments

Unlike most hard slab avalanches, rather than shattering like a pane of glass, the raincrust allows the snow to remain intact as one cohesive piece of snow. It finally breaks up as it slams into trees, piling up huge amounts of bone crushing debris.

Comments

The raincrust has provided the perfect protecting layer, essentially allowing the surface hoar/facet to combo to remain intact. Each time it snows or the wind blows, this Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} notoriously tricky, persistent weakness will react and we'll see tricky avalanche conditions.

Comments

Brian stands next to a lower portion of the crown which broke nearly four feet deep.

Coordinates