Observer Name
John C & Grainger, Anderson
Observation Date
Friday, March 7, 2025
Avalanche Date
Friday, March 7, 2025
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Crystal Palace
Location Name or Route
Days Fork Crystal Palace
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Depth
2.5'
Width
150'
Vertical
700'
Comments
Noticed some greenhouse was happening on our second lap, remote triggered this from skinning on the ridge.
Ran about 700' collecting in the gully at the bottom
SS-ASr-R2-D2



Comments
Photos and description Grainger and Anderson:


This avalanche was triggered by skiers ascending the point on top of the Crystal Palace run in Days Fork, immediately south of Chicken Sh*t Ridge. Around 11 AM 5 people began to descend the Crystal Palace side of the ridge on their second lap. A few of those skiers were ascending the rock feature when they triggered a wind-affected soft slab on the point's NE face. This was a prime location to trigger slabs with today's stability concerns, the Lee side (from SW winds) of an exposed ridge with a hardened planar (even a bit convex) bed surface. The party confirmed that the slide failed on the dirty M/F crust that formed last week. From afar I would estimate the crown to be ~175' and 2-3.5'. It seems to have a stauchwall at the bottom of this exposed feature and it seems the debris it pushed many hundred more feet through the gully consisted of just this most recent storm slab. The party did a good job of yelling a warning as they triggered it, then assessing the debris to confirm no involvement potential.
Coordinates