Butler Fork Avalanche1/28/2023
Today we headed up Butler Fork thinking that we would stay out of the wind and ski a sheltered NE facing bowl at around 9,000ft. We realized the snow was denser than expected and slightly inverted on our hike in but we stayed out of the wind and never felt any slabby snow. This bowl is steep at the top, 38 plus degrees, then mellows out rapidly in the middle. We ascended in the steep trees on skiers right side, did a ski cut that only produced sluffing and skied the bowl with no obvious instabilities. We proceeded to hike up again but this time went up about 10 feet higher, still on the edge of the trees. My partner was about 10 feet in front of me and stomped out a flat spot to take his skins off, next thing we know the bowl is fracturing 50ft above us. My partner was on the edge of the slide and just got pushed 2 feet. I was in the middle, got pushed into a stand of trees and got buried to the top of my chest. I also heard and felt my hamstring pop. I was still in hiking mode with toes locked in and skins on with my legs all twisted up. It required my partner to dig me out and release my skis from my feet. A few minutes after I was out we heard a pop and the middle of the bowl pulled out remotely. The first slide was 100ft wide, 18 inches at the deepest point. The next slide extended the crown to 250ft and ran to where the slope flattened out. I doubt we would’ve triggered a slide if we would have stayed lower out of the windslab. The windslab wasn’t obvious but it only makes sense in retrospect. There’s a massive cornice at the top and while the wind wasn’t out of hand it was still loading the slope right below the cornice with denser snow. Sometimes the line between triggering a slide and not is thin but it sucks to be on the wrong side of that line. Just glad I had a good partner with me and can ski on one leg fairly efficiently. Mistakes were definitely made but we live and hopefully learn from them.
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White Pine and Tanners1/25/2023 I haven’t put up anything in a bit because I don’t want to sound like a broken record. Snowpack is mostly stable and fat but that doesn’t mean you can’t get caught. Went up White Pine today, but as soon as I got to the bottom of Red Baldy there were strong windsfrom the NW and low visibility. Continued on to upper white pine. Upside down snow pack and some deep wind slabs made me bail. Decided to head up Tanners for redemption. No such luck. No visibility for round 2. There was good snow in the middle but for sure chunky and a bunch of avy debris, not recommended. The hazard in the alpine up high was elevated from what I saw but just grateful for snow! Powder to the people.
Broads Fork1/12/2023
Went up Broads Fork today, kinda figured the place would have come completely unglued after this weeks large, windy and wet storm. I was not disappointed when we reached the upper drainage. The first avalanche we saw was the biggest. I'm not sure what the area is called and it hardly ever gets skied due to its complex terrain. The slide started around 10500ft and ran down to 7000ft, a total of 3500ft. The crown was estimated to be at least 1500ft wide and over 10 feet deep in portions of it. It looked to have started as a new snow slide then step down to the PWL from November. It carved out a new path through mature pine trees and alders leaving a large debris pile at the bottom, full of lumber. There where many other large avalanches in the upper drainage as well but none of them seemed to step down to the PWL. Bonkers avalanched big during the storm and filled in the apron all the way to the creek. The Diving Board and the terrain off the SLC Twins also avalanched, maybe multiple times. The apron under Dromedary and Sunrise Peak also slid. Finally the Blue Ice seemed to avalanche at some point in time during the storm. We ended up skiing Bonkers seeing that there was not much hangfire and it’s more filled in than I’ve seen in many years. I think at this point in time it would be difficult to trigger a large slide down to the PWL. Seemed like the biggest hazard today was potential for wet slides on solar aspects. It got pretty warm and the sun was blazing all day. We noted many point releases on the S facing. The Wasatch is fat right now and it’s really good to see it living up to its potential.
Toots1/7/2023
Went to millcreek today to avoid the masses but no such luck. Headed up the Bowman trail which is always suspect going on the weekend. The snow had settled out and dried up on the surface leading to quality skiing. Was thinking of going to the Cabin Run but pulled the plug on that due to the amount of people heading that way. Decided to hit Toots to Boots and Toots Sweet, a pair of large avalanche paths that drop into Alexander Basin, E - NE facing, due to no takers. Toots to Boots had a fairly large avalanche right down the gut that gave us confidence that it had done its thing and was good to go, with an escape route if necessary. Skied both lines with no reactive snow. Saw a few new slides from yesterday’s storm, most notably in Depth Hoar Bowl. These slides cracked out lower on the slope than usual and created large debris piles at the bottom, but were new snow only. I am thinking stability is increasing and the mountains are fat with coverage. Just a side note, quit walking up the ski runs, its a stupid idea all around, no one cares how many unnecessary kick turns you can do, and how much vert you get, it’s supposed to be fun, walk up the safest route and have fun skiing a run with no skin tracks.
Cardiff1/4/2023 Took a walk up Cardiff today from the BCC side to see what happened during the storm. I’m basically just gonna list the avalanches I saw and any pertinent information on them. The first avalanche we came upon was Chutes and Ladders, it appeared to be new snow only but ran 1500ft and crossed the Cardiff road. We also noted slides in the High Pockets that appeared to have went into old snow. Another large crown was noted on the N side of Montreal Hill. As we continue up the drainage we came across slides that crossed the road from the west facing. There were basically avalanches from the Old Growth chute all the way to the Hallway. The slide in the Hallway ran all the way to the mine dump at the bottom. We walked up the W facing between the Hallway and the Old Growth chute and discovered a slide that was over 600ft wide and ran on the PWL from November taking out trees and crossing the road at the bottom. Upper Cardiac seemed to have many avalanches but they all appeared to be new snow only. The list in upper Cardiac is, Cardiac Bowl, large debris pile and a mid slope crown, and the roll over off the bottom of the bowl, also a mid slope crown. LSB also had signs of avalanching on the skiers left side. Cardiac Ridge looked like it had avalanched multiple times during the storm but it appeared that nothing went into old snow, also a smaller slide in Hansens. Finally , multiple slides off the Ivory Rock Slabs with maybe one going into old snow. My thoughts now are if it hasn’t already avalanched in upper Cardiac it be hard to trigger one at this point in time, but once again my opinion.
Monitors1/3/2023 It’s been one hell of a storm cycle. 80 to 100 inches of snow in the central Wasatch with 7 plus inches of water weight although I have lost track at this point. Went to the PC Ridgeline today in hopes of being able to see what had happened in the Monitors. Got a fairly good look at both S and W Monitor. South had zero signs of avalanching and West only had a storm slab slide on the steep skiers left side. I was kind of expecting to see some big avalanches down to the PWL from October but no such luck. A large slide in the Meadow Chutes was noted that went down to the PWL. The slide in the Meadows was in the exact same spot that almost killed my partner in crime and this website 4 years ago, Peter Ingle. Looked like it went naturally at the end of the storm yesterday.
At this point in time I don’t trust any slide paths that haven’t slid, Like I have said before, it’s all fun and games until it isn’t, then it sucks. I think the new snow will eventually become stable and we will have a deep bomber snowpack but patience is key and running out on the first sunny day and punching the big lines seems a bit suspect in my mind, but that’s my opinion. We stuck to lower angle slopes today and had good skiing. The wind started cranking from the SW in the afternoon loading NE facing slopes up even more. Just another thing to think about when your planning your route. The photo from the Meadow Chutes was sent to me by Brad Makoff If you are enjoying the observations, please consider donating on VenmoMark-White-240 Archives
January 2024
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