Observer Name
dfvsp
Observation Date
Monday, March 28, 2016
Avalanche Date
Monday, March 28, 2016
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork
Location Name or Route
Hideaway-Main Days
Elevation
10,000'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
8"
Width
40'
Vertical
400'
Comments
Triggered two slides this afternoon. First was skiers right of the main hideaway gullies. A couple of ski turns on the mellow section high above a convex rollover was all it took to propagate a crack and trigger a new snow avalanche several yards downslope. Two adjacent paths sympathetically released resulting in a larger avalanche which crossed and covered a large section of the skin track below. The low density snow would have been hard pressed to knock even an unaware skier off their feet, yet once all of the snow had channeled into the gully, it would have been an unpleasant experience to be a part of.
Second was in Main Days. A ski cut on a rollover mid slope in the main gully produced a new snow slide which propagated out about 8" deep and 40' wide. Two other identical slides were noted. One likely human triggered at the bottom steeps and one potentially natural breaking off a steep roll just below the ridge and covering several ski tracks at the transition below.
Strong SSE winds (40 mph+) greeted me on my return up hideaway. It was full on- goggles and puffy, blizzard skinning up to West Bowl peak at 7 pm.