Avalanche: west porter

Observation Date
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » west porter
Location Name or Route
West Porter
Elevation
9,000'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow
Depth
Unknown
Width
Unknown
Vertical
500'
Comments

We did one run in West Porter, stopping on the bump below the pass and the runout from the upper headwall. Absolutely puking snow, but quick hand pits showed only new snow instability 4-6" with pretty good solidity for the 2+ feet below, but it was snowing so hard and seemed to be windy up high that we were on alert. On the 2nd run - still taking the "safe", low-angle line I saw a powder cloud blasting down off the headwall that is high skier's right, to the right of the tiger-stripe wall. I wasn't in danger of being caught by it but gave me a good start. I couldn't see the crown due to low viz but it left plenty of debris that had stopped on the flats above the final pitch to the gully. Remote triggering of a new snow storm slab seemed unlikely from 100m+ away on adjacent 20 degree slopes, but more unlikely was the coincidence of glancing up to see the cloud right when I stopped.

I've had plenty of good talking-tos by teachers over the years that I've conveniently ignored, but we decided to actually listen to this one and exit. By the time we were in the valley the weather seemed to be mellowing dramatically and I would guess that this period of high instability will be mitigated fairly quickly.