Observation Date
12/15/2020
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork
Location Name or Route
Ivory Flakes
Comments
Headed up Cardiff Fork from BCC, made it into Cardiac then descended Ivory Flakes. On the way up I triggered an avalanche remotely from 30 feet away, wouldn't have know that it avalanched if I did walk around the corner. We had already experienced cracking and collapsing on our way up. The collapse was triggered on the NW facing then wrapped around to the due N and triggered a slide about 40ft wide, about a foot deep and ran to the bottom of the hill. I didn't put this on the avalanche list because it was more of a test slope and not a ski objective. That being said collapsing and cracking were the norm today and we stayed away from steep slopes of consequence for the rest of the day. We're in a tricky spot right now, the slopes with old snow that are better for skiing are also the most suspect, we are still lacking a consolidated slab but the writings on the wall and even taking a ride in a super soft slab is not recommended. I jump on many test slopes today most cracked and collapsed but only the steepest one released and actually slid, it was in the 35% range. It was kind of surprising how well connected the collapses were, we collapsed a couple slopes that spider webbed for a couple hundred feet.
photos: avalanche and cracking, and a video with poor sound quality, what I was saying in the video is that we remotely triggered the slide from 30 ft. away it was at 9100ft due N and ran on a foot of large grain faceted snow.
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/9BA38F27-E65D-43A5-9EF4-6307134376B9.jpeg?itok=nrCOFw6F)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/372BA3E9-D168-4725-9193-93A613A52F4B.jpeg?itok=hTh4sxGE)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/12BF5F48-FDA8-4054-93E1-FC1138808331.jpeg?itok=YLNu01GQ)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/DA1DBDB5-E305-4F94-8C6C-4122B99DDCFF.jpeg?itok=huRasED4)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/685A1A17-BE2F-4CFC-BC71-2D70380013D0.jpeg?itok=DysM9hSx)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/71DB2D1C-9495-4CD3-B528-6F1781FB7A6A.jpeg?itok=k7e3d6GV)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/D0EC165A-F1F0-4CC9-901A-82CDA1E5CFB2.jpeg?itok=QFBfQct6)
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2020-21/DEBE5621-C0BF-4991-9746-F0E80D71EA14.jpeg?itok=PapQ6J5A)
Video
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable