UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Avalanche: West Desolation Ridge

Observer Name
Fred
Observation Date
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Avalanche Date
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill D North » West Desolation Ridge
Location Name or Route
Desolation Lake drainage
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
North
Trigger
Unknown
Comments
I observed a large natural slab avalanche on the steep North-facing slope one cirque West of the Desolation Lake cirque (proper). It is the steep ridge between powder park (3?) and the Desolation Lake drainage. I would identify it precisely on google maps except I am unable to zoom to accurately indicate the slide's location. I have tried 3 different computers and I'm giving up. Anyway, the avalalanche is BIG; probably a thousand feet wide, give or take. The Eastern extremity is a well defined crown just below the West "summit" of the ridge feature and the fracture continues West and down to the Western extremity of the ridge. It wraps around sub-ridges and connects slopes most people might consider "unconnected". We did not investigate closely, but it ran full track, started as (at least) all the storm snow, and appeared to step down into older snow. This is the same slope that killed Alan Murphy's brother in-law back in the early 80s. Observation time was 5:00 pm. Based on this statement: " Interestingly, no natural activity observed above Desolation Lake and West Desolation Ridge, which both have similar aspects to Sheep Sh!t Ridge -- perhaps not as much wind exposure in these locations?" made by SD earlier the same day, we might suppose this slide occured mid to late afternoon. It certainly looked as "fresh as a daisy". No camera, no pic. Note: Seth Dromgoole emailed the following comments: Just wanted to respond to Fred's Avy Observation of West Desolation and my Avy Obs of Sheep Shit Ridge (I'm SD) on 2/9/14. I had noted in my Obs that I didn't see slides in Deso or West Deso -- I was in the area around 3-3:30 pm. Fred stated he saw the slide around 5 pm. The slide must have occurred in the 1.5 hr gap. Of note, when I was scanning that area I did notice a lone skier skinning along the ridge between Deso and West Deso, perhaps that skier triggered the slide?