Avalanche: West Monitor

Observer Name
mark white
Observation Date
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Avalanche Date
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Monitors » West Monitor
Location Name or Route
West Monitor
Elevation
10,100'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
36°
Trigger
Natural
Trigger: additional info
Cornice Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
13"
Width
150'
Vertical
800'
Comments

This avalanche seems like it was triggered either last night or this morning, the debris was fresh and it had no new snow on the bed surface. Appears to be triggered by a natural cornice drop, triggering a wind slab when it hit the slope. From what I could see of the crown looked to be new snow only, about 150ft wide and ran to the flats at the bottom, the part of the crown that was not destroyed by the cornice fall was around a foot deep. The cornice drop was a big one maybe the size of a train car.