Observation: West Desolation Ridge

Observation Date
12/31/2019
Observer Name
R. Kosinski
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill D North » West Desolation Ridge
Location Name or Route
West Desolation Ridge
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Toured to West Deso through Powder Park 3. Cold with light winds at the ridge with new snow not effected by the wind. Started down skier's left of the cliff bands and with no effort caused multiple sluff avalanches that morphed into a bigger one about 100 ft wide and ran about 300 feet. This entrained the top 4 inches of snow and picked up considerable speed before stopping as the angle lessened. Could have easily carried a person. This run seemed to be the only area that had a high enough slope angle to allow the sluff to run.
Comments
Bluebird day until mid afternoon when the winds began to pick up a bit and clouds started to move in. Overall great skiing with sluff being the main problem, but was fairly manageable. Sluff was limited to steep, north facing terrain.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates