Kelly P

Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Maybird Gulch

Hogback east off of the Obelisk

10,400'

East

45°

Skier

Intentionally Triggered

Dry Loose

Wind Drifted Snow

New Snow/Old Snow Interface

4"

80'

400'

I triggered a wind loaded east aspect by doing the normal cornice stamp, except the cornice didn't go, just the wind loaded new snow, kind of like a remote trigger, but real close. The stuff ran 3/4 track and didn't propagate much. Another parter triggered a similar sized slide just north on the same aspect an elevation. The avalanche debris skied better than the upside down new snow. The new snow had some wet zones at near the interface, but not enough to bond yet. General Conditions: high altitude winds where blowing hard enough to blow me over at about 10,800ft in the morning but calmed by mid day. Upper elevations (about 10,000ft Maybird) and above had less snow, estimated at 3-5inches, whereas middle alttudes (10k-8800ft white pine) had 6-12 inches of storm snow. Wind loading was on the east aspect and a little bit of the south. Stuffs where manageable on pretty much every aspect and angle with some Maritime polar off fall line technique. The snow heated up on east, and south aspects enough to create a crust tomorrow but not enough to send roller balls.