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Avalanche: Airplane Peak

Observer Name
Philip
Observation Date
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Avalanche Date
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Hogum » Airplane Peak
Location Name or Route
Airplane, Hogum Fork
Elevation
10,300'
Aspect
Northeast
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Avalanche Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Weak Layer
Density Change
Depth
5"
Width
200'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Comments
NE 10,300 Elevation on the shoulder of Airplane in upper Hogum Fork.
HS-ASu-R2-D1-I
Hard wind slab, broke quite wide. Lucky that the ride was clean and the run out forgiving. After skiing NW Pfieff the plan was to continue into Hogum, and gain the ridge of Airplane. Winds were present before the first run, but NW Pfieff itself was very skied off and very sheltered. Clear that transport had happened overnight as well, but no instabilities seen during the approach from WP trail head up Red Pine to Pfieff East Ridge. Ridge and summit the winds were still relatively tame.
Let my guard down while trying to find the point of weakness to gain the Airplane ridge. Snow surface changed to hard, then back to soft, then hard again. I crossed a few hard spots without incident. I was in the very middle of the slope that went when I realized I didn't like the situation. Skinning was difficult and the hard wind board had become a slab. Moments later I was moving with as much slope as I could see in my field of vision. Rode the top the whole way, then before the run out kicked off the skis and started fighting to stay up. The slide stopped and I was on top, unscathed. One ski stuck out of the snow, and a quick probe found the other buried 1.5ft deep. Debris fanned out and didn't pile up much.
Coordinates