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Accident: No Name Bowl

Observer Name
mark white
Observation Date
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Avalanche Date
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » No Name Bowl
Location Name or Route
No Name Bowl
Elevation
9,600'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
38°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Depth Hoar
Depth
3'
Width
200'
Vertical
600'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Buried - Partly
1
Accident and Rescue Summary

The skier was caught and carried about 500 to 600ft down the slope and partially buried, he extracted himself and headed back to the Park City side where he came from after we yelled at him to make sure he was alright, not sure if he lost any gear but he had both skis on when he left. Another point of interest is that he was wearing a avalanche air bag and did not deploy it, not sure if he was getting trundled too hard to pull the cord or what happened, hopefully he will send in a report and give us some first hand information. in a report

Comments

This avalanche in No Name Bowl was triggered around 2:00pm, there were already 18 tracks in the bowl by this time when a lone skier triggered the slide on a steep rocky roll-over. The fracture line was about 50ft off the ridge line and the trigger point was a thin rocky spot on the roll-over. My party had already skied two runs in the bowl but we have been avoiding the steep rocky roll-over like the plague all winter, I've seen that part of the bowl avalanche more times than I can remember. The skier was caught and carried about 500 to 600ft down the slope and partially buried, he extracted himself and headed back to the Park City side where he came from after we yelled at him to make sure he was alright, not sure if he lost any gear but he had both skis on when he left. Another point of interest is that he was wearing a avalanche air bag and did not deploy it, not sure if he was getting trundled too hard to pull the cord or what happened, hopefully he will send in a report and give us some first hand information. in a report

Comments

From the skier caught in the avalanche:

On my third lap in No Name Bowl today I remotely triggered a large slide which caught and carried me approximately 500’. The deep slab broke approximately 120’ above me. I’d skied the bowl 48 hrs ago and noted the entire bowl was tracked repeatedly. The underlying surface felt solid. Today there were between 9 and 11 people skiing the bowl in various groups. While there had been some dense sluffing on the first lap, it didn’t feel concerning. Concern diminished further as the bowl was quickly tracked up. As I waited for my third lap at the top I noted that there remained only a couple of alleys of clean snow. One was just north of the high point on the crest of the bowl. At the top of the alley lies a steep rocky section which will often release if touched. I chose a line slightly north of this point with the plan to move south once I was several turns into the run. After cutting into the run and feeling solid I began to descend. There was once again some sluffing but it actually felt lighter than earlier with less volume. On approximately my fifth turn I was hit by the slab and knocked over. I was buried briefly and then spat out. That cycle continued 3-5 times until I came to a stop sitting in the debris. I’m speculating that the slope angle above me combined with the persistent slab and the weight of the new snow produced this one. I’m still shocked though that between 18-21 runs prior to mine, within 60 min of mine in fact, and with some releasing sizable and long running heavy sluffs, did not pull this out. I feel pretty damn lucky today.