Observer Name
Pete Earle
Observation Date
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Avalanche Date
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Canyons side country » Red Rocks Chutes
Location Name or Route
Mother in Law Gulley/Red Rocks Chutes
Elevation
9,500'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
2'
Width
350'
Vertical
600'
Comments
Was walking the PC Ridgeline with my AAI avalanche class. Came around the corner in the mother in law area, and was demonstrating how to kick a small piece of cornice (after ensuring there were no skiers below). Dropped a 1'X 5' chunk of cornice and as it rolled downslope remotely triggered a SS-ACr-D2.5/R2-I. Crown height was 2-5' deep, and 3-400' feet wide. Slope had been recently loaded by wind. The slope where the cornice rolled down did not release due to lower slope angle. Was unable to access the crown due to hang fire, but appeared to slide at the new snow/old snow interface, but it could have gone down as far as the last week's rain crust. It did not fail into facets. Further down the ridge there was a size 1.5 natural release, so I would expect this was the norm and not the exception today.
Coordinates