Avalanche: Chablis

Observer Name
Nalli
Observation Date
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Avalanche Date
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Region
Provo » Provo Canyon » Chablis
Location Name or Route
Upper Chablis Bowl
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Depth
2"
Width
150'
Vertical
400'
Comments

7" @ .77" H2O fell over the last 24 hours bringing the storm total at 7500' since Thurs. the 24th to 24" @ 2.6"H2O. This latest avalanche cycle appears to mostly just involve the latest snowfall, but there was at least one larger slide in the northern Timp Basin that has brought the King Crust into question. The slide pictured below in Upper Chablis Bowl was triggered naturally by a small LS slide falling off the cliff above and landing on the new dense windslab. It is at 9900', E aspect, and fell 400' vert. With each of these latest storm impulses, the new snow has bonded fairly well to the old surface. At least at first. The warm spring weather is leaving a lot of heat in the snow at the surface and I believe these melt layers are creating facets a couple days after they get buried. I've seen evidence of this in many places, but I've yet to actually link it to any real slides. Again today, I was unable to get close to one of these to confirm.

Comments

This one in Slide Canyon is at a similar aspect and elevation as the one in Chablis. Not quite as deep. Moving NE from here, there were also slides in each major drainage through the fingers and into Cascade Cirque.

Comments

Most of the snow I walked in today was wind affected to some degree. It had the classic dense, slabby feel to it and sometimes produced shooting cracks that did not propagate far. I was by myself today and as much as I wanted to get on some steeper slopes, the hard slab conditions kept me from feeling comfortable on anything over 35deg. Still good skiing on the lower angle though. Very Good.

Comments

New sastrugi on the windward side of things.

Coordinates