Avalanche: West Bowl

Observer Name
Joey Dempster
Observation Date
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Avalanche Date
Friday, January 22, 2016
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver Fork » West Bowl
Location Name or Route
West Bowl, Silver Fork, Big Cottonwood Canyon
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Unknown
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Depth Hoar
Width
250'
Comments

I observed this avalanche in West Bowl on Saturday, 1/23/16, but I do not know exactly when it occurred. The location is about half way between the top of West Bowl and Davenport Hill. It would appear to have been sometime between Thursday and Saturday. Everything about this avalanche is my estimation, and could be incorrect. However, I think it is important to have a record of it, as it looks like a "repeater". It ran to the rocky ground in the upper starting zone, but the relatively small deposition suggests it wasn't the whole snowpack, so I infer that this path has run one or more times before and reloaded with wind deposition from the south side of the ridge. The other interesting thing about this slide is how far visible crowns extend out and down the hill. This is a very large area through which the fracture propagated, or triggered the other mid-slope avalanches sympathetically. Either way, it speaks to the presence of weak snow underlying this particular area.

It should be noted that if this area refills during the next storm or wind event, another avalanche is very likely.

In the picture, I have outlined the visible crowns in red.

Coordinates