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Avalanche: Salt Lake

Observer Name
Matt Park
Observation Date
Friday, January 17, 2020
Avalanche Date
Friday, January 17, 2020
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Mat's basin
Elevation
8,200'
Aspect
North
Trigger
Natural
Depth
10"
Width
20'
Comments
This looks like a small shallow windslab was triggered by a sluff that started from snow falling off a tree. The path was fairly filled in when I saw this thing at 1630 so my guess is that it released in the morning during the more intense snow and wind. 36 degrees in steepness at the crown and it ran about 200'. I had not had much results from hand shears on my way up, I dug a CT in the flank and got CTE7RP 40cm down, along with a moderate shovel shear on the same layer. Lower down on the steep N facing gully walls above the Silver Fork drainage I saw a similar slide that looked identical to this one in depth but quite a bit wider.