Observer Name
Thomas Mifflin
Observation Date
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Hide A Way Park
Location Name or Route
Days Fork - Hideaway
Elevation
9,800'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
14"
Width
50'
Vertical
400'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Comments
Immediately after making my second turn down our route I felt the slope crumble beneath my skis. According to my partner, the slab broke about 20 feet above me though it was definitely a soft wind slab. Due to intuition/luck I felt like I should cut back hard to my left on that second turn and had enough momentum to ski off the slab into some trees. What we had thought were just some fun looking isolated wind pillows turned out to be a cohesive wind slab. It was also interesting that the slide broke on the old snow interface rather than on one of the weak layers in the north facing snowpack right now. Slab was between about 10-18 inches thick depending on location. Even though it was a relatively small slide, my first (and hopefully last) ride on an avalanche was a good reminder of the constant respect the mountains require and to more carefully evaluate wind affected terrain.
