DATE OF OBSERVATION: 02/28/2015
ELEVATION: 11200′
AVALANCHES: Location: skiers left, near wood edge of Yogi’s. Skier triggered soft slab pocket at approx. 11200′ elev. in a minor gully which ran downhill to a point where the slope opened up and rolled slightly. At this point the debris from the SS pocket triggered another SS, approx. 1 – 1.5 ft deep at crown, which propagated ~80 – 100′ across and ran approx. 1000′ to the bench at ~10200′ elev. No skiers were caught due to safe stopping zones. The slide did not step down. The surface on which the SS broke was a smooth, clean shear on facets. From what I’ve seen the skiers left of Yogi’s is rarely skied and it appears that the lack of skier compaction during the previous months of the winter was a factor in the quality to shear in this slide. A pit dug on a slope nearby that is more often skied revealed a stronger bond between this week’s new snow and the old surface’s facets and a lower quality of shear upon failure
WEATHER: Overcast, lightly snowing, little to no wind.
SNOWPACK: Approx. 1 to 1.5 feet of new snow in the last week resting on old facets from the long dry period.
UPLOADS: