Observer Name
Adam Bellomy
Observation Date
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Avalanche Date
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Porter Fork » The Ice Box
Location Name or Route
The Ice Box
Elevation
9,200'
Aspect
North
Trigger
Natural
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
3.5'
Width
200'
Comments
Forecaster Note: We received multiple reports of this avalanche, so all additional photos and comments have been added to this observation.
Came up into main porter today and quickly noticed a large crown on the Ice Box about a hundred feet below the ridge, presumably from overnight. Crown appeared to be about 5-6' deep and a few hundred feet wide, but hard to tell from such a distance. Also noted a few dry loose slides high in the Sox's area that did not break into a deeper layer.
(N. Pearson) One of many naturals that went in Porter fork during high PI rate on the eveing of the 13th. This one ran in the corner pocket of iceboxin Main Porter about 100 lower than the ridge. The Majority of this slide had about 4-6 foot crown. Broke all the way around to the northwest facing steep slope with a 2-3 foot crown on average. I estimate this slide to be about 400-600 ft wide. Debris ran down the gully about 1000 ft and deposited in the flats. Takeaway from this and many other very large slides in the area is to activily aviod gullies, be congnisant of overhead hazard that may be 300-1000+ feet above you, and don't trust some of the standard skin tracks in the area. There is a lot of danger in the Porter Fork area in Milcreek. These large slopes are primed and ready to fail if they haven't already done so. There is plenty of snow hanging out on the rest of Icebox that could result in a slide 2-3 times larger.
Coordinates