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Avalanche: Monte Cristo

Observer Name
Jonathan Hansen
Observation Date
Friday, December 29, 2017
Avalanche Date
Friday, December 29, 2017
Region
Ogden » Monte Cristo
Location Name or Route
Monte Cristo
Elevation
8,300'
Aspect
East
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Snowmobiler
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Depth
4'
Width
80'
Vertical
125'
Caught
1
Snow Profile Comments
Wind blown snow on top of a hill and onto the steep face.
Comments
41 30 58.07 N 111 26 50 38 W
Comments

Paige Pagnucco reached out the observer on 12/30/17 and got the following details:

A family was snowmobiling about 3/4 mile from their cabin near Monte Cristo. They observed there was not much snow. The day before the incident, the 21 yr. old son asked his dad if he should climb the hill. The dad said no because it was steep and looked suspect because it had more snow than the surrounding area; he had also seen it slide in previous years. The family does not carry avalanche rescue equipment and actively avoids avalanche terrain. No one has ever taken an avalanche class. The son did not climb the hill that day. The next day the family went to same spot. While the daughters were riding in the flats below hill, the son went up the hill and climbed up the ridge to the looker's left unbeknownst to anyone. He unknowingly triggered the slide from the ridge above and looker's left. Once getting to the top, he pointed his sled straight downhill not knowing there had been an avalanche. He flipped off the crown and over the handlebars. The debris stopped the sled. The sled was damaged because of the fall. It took the family a while to get the sled out as the debris chunks were big and hard. The bed surface was almost down to the dirt. Dad though his son had a little bit of bravado in his decision to climb. Dad knew that avalanche danger was high because he’d read something somewhere about it during the previous week.