Observer Name
Malone
Observation Date
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline
Location Name or Route
Big O, Park City Ridgeline
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
North
Slope Angle
39°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
3'
Width
150'
Vertical
200'
Comments
Our Level 2 class was walking the PC ridge line. A group of 7 were breaking trail along the ridge, about twenty minutes prior, and likely remotely triggered this slide. While wind slab is less likely to be triggered remotely, the graupel that fell during Sunday night's/ Monday morning's storm on top of the low density snow of Saturday created an upside down structure beneath the wind slab, adding sensitivity. Several areas of wind deposition (large wind rolls) were seen on this NNW slope and the crown appeared to be approx 3 feet deep. Photo 1: avalanche, Photo 2: skin track switchback above avalanche. We spoke with the trail breaking group later; they recalled noting a large collapse in that area but were unaware of the slide, as it was on a steep rollover and out of sight from the ridge. SS-ASr-R2/D2-I
Coordinates