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Observation: East Couloir

Observation Date
2/11/2017
Observer Name
C Brown
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Kessler Peak » East Couloir
Location Name or Route
Kessler, East Couloir
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Almost no wind today, still most of the snow sitting on the trees up to >10,000'. Warm temps with high humidity. Sky was obscured most of the day with a few breaks to get some visibility. No precip observed from 0:930~16:00.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
14"
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments

About 14" was the most new snow observed, just about 4" down at the base of Argenta. Some of the snow was surprisingly not as heavy as anticipated. Under the new snow was totally saturated snow. At the base of Argenta it was the whole pack depth, and over 9,000' somewhere the pack was not rain saturated. Probably about 9,300'.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Cracking
Rapid Warming
Red Flags Comments
Did not observe any wet loose, but saw quite a few natural avalanches around the exit of the East Couloir of Kessler. Triggered a 8"~12" storm slab in the east couloir that cleaned out the whole shot and left a little pile of debris in the runout. The triggered avalanche, and the naturals observed seemed to be running on a change in the storm snow, suspected to be when the front passed and the cooler temps arrived. Did see a larger glide avalanche in Broads Fork in the diving board area when the skies cleared for a moment.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

Considering I didn't see any signs of winds or loading, I am going to call the activity observed a storm slab. The snow seemed somewhat well behaved with a few small loose dry avalanches coming off the skin track in Argenta, and the slab that pulled out and cleaned out the east couloir. Would expect this to settle out pretty quick. All in all the new snow seemed to bond pretty well to the old snow.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Gliding Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments

The loose wet was not really observed today, the saggy cornices and the glide avalanche observed in Broads was the only other things noted today.

Comments

Some pictures of the slab triggered in east couloir and the naturals down below

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate