Observer Name
Andrew Walter
Observation Date
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Avalanche Date
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork
Location Name or Route
Day's Fork
Elevation
9,800'
Aspect
Northwest
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
1"
Width
40'
Vertical
Unknown
Caught
1
Carried
1
Comments
Submitting this because it scared the hell out of our party and is a valuable lesson to others. DON'T SKI ALONE! Our party was moving north from West Bowl in Silver Fork towards Upper Meadow Chutes. A solo skier passed us, we all grouped up above Doug's Drop. The solo skier (name unknown) geared up and took off without telling us where he planned to ski. After we talked as a group, we made our way north again and before dropping into Meadow Chutes, we noticed the solo skier's tracks going northwest into Day's Fork. I looked over the ridge and onto the slope, to find it had ripped to the ground and there was heavy debris piled into trees, with no clear ski tracks exiting the slide area. I began screaming downhill and heard the solo skiers voice say he was OK and not to ski down above him. Scary as hell, could have been a very different story. Heavily treed, northwest slope into Day's Fork between Doug's Drop and Upper Meadow Chutes.
Coordinates