Observer Name
Luke
Observation Date
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Avalanche Date
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine
Location Name or Route
White Pine
Elevation
8,700'
Aspect
West
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Snowboarder
Trigger: additional info
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Wet Loose
Avalanche Problem
Wet Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
4"
Width
5'
Vertical
20'
Comments
Poking around in White Pine on the ridgeline, had a West aspect small slide while I was skinning. It was about 10-15 minutes after the sun stopped shining on it, broke and ran slowly for about 20 feet, no hangfire or real danger right there so I decided to dig a pit right at the crown. The old snow, which is quite saturated, did not bond well to the newer, saturated, now sun-affected snow. It seems like more of a maritime-type snowpack avalanche issue, which I guess is fitting after that storm.
Comments
Snow profile from the pit: layers of 4-f dense snow, then about 30 cm's of fist-density snow followed by a 1-finger hard crust and the final 10-15 cm's of new snow which is still quite dense by Wasatch standards. Sorry about the picture it uploaded sideways. No noticeable failure on the ECT, Shovel Shear failed on the same layer as the slide with minimal effort. I would be surprised if anything lower down failed unless it really warmed up.
