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Observation: Lambs Canyon

Observation Date
12/9/2022
Observer Name
Grainger
Region
Salt Lake » Parleys Canyon » Lambs Canyon
Location Name or Route
Lambs Canyon
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The November 28th faceted interface is still the player of concern, though this past week some were able to find soft storm slabs.
The winds have affected ridgeline snow and today showed hard, supportable wind crust along ridgetops. The test will be Sunday-Tuesday to see if another 1"+ of water will overload the interface in areas that have not yet slid.
Walking the Lambs ridge today I was able to find isolated wind-loaded areas that had slid on this interface sometime in the last week, likely due to natural cornice fall.
Pic 1- 9350' N-facing area that had already refilled decently but had created a small D2 slide with some blocks 4' tall and the crown showing the 11/28 failure plane.
Pic 2- Similar aspect and elevation avalanche that was limited in elevation due to terrain benching out but was ~100' wide.
Pic 3- Digging in a similar area just down from ridgeline show a snowpack height of 145cm with the 11/28 interface 60cm down from the surface. Testing produced an ECTP24.
My thoughts are nervous ones, now that this slab is much less sensitive and well-connected. As people venture further onto slopes and this weekend's storm adds more SWE to the slab, there is a distinct potential for people to trigger slabs from lower on the slope with dire consequences. The 2016 Birthday Chutes slide comes to mind after this season's strong Southerly winds.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates