Observer Name
Aaron Rice
Observation Date
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Hide A Way Park
Location Name or Route
Hideaway Park
Elevation
10,000'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
14"
Width
25'
Vertical
400'
Comments
Skiing with a partner, we decided to ski hideaway park. Knowing we were pushing it a bit, we decided to ski the main gully one at a time. I skied first. I made a couple ski cuts on a wind pocket and couldn't get it to move. I continued down into the gully and skied very nice soft turns about halfway down. i stopped in a somewhat safe zone but with very good visibility of the slope. My partner dropped in a triggered the wind pocket. I didn't get a close view but he said it was 15'X20' and about a foot deep. The wind slab itself was a hard slab, but very quickly it entrained a lot of loose snow below and picked up a good head of steam. I had plenty of time to ski to the side of the slide path and watch the slide go by me.
Both of us knew this slope well and we had talked about the possibility of a small slide occurring. The pocket that pulled out was about what both of us thought might happen, but it picked up more speed and ran further down the slide path than expected. However, we used good protocol and had good communication while skiing the slope which allowed us to do so safely.
Coordinates