10/15/2023 Field Report - Sawatch
Report Information
Cracking and minor collapsing while skinning up. Wind loaded slab on top of facets from late September/early October. Slide triggered just below the ridgeline and propogated ~100 yards across from the rocks the center of the gully. It then ran around 300 feet before coming to a stop. Debris were around 3-4 feet in depth approximately. Skier 2 was probing at snow depth just below the crest of the ridge, when they remotely triggered the slide with the crown being about 10 feet below Skier 2. Skier 1 observed from the skin track on a connected slope on the other side of the gully. Slope made a big "whoompf" and cracks shot across upon slide iniation. Some surface hoar observed as well.
North facing gully on the NW Ridge of Mountain Boy Peak. The slide was triggered on a NW aspect where old faceted snow from earlier in October lay under the recent storm slab from last week.
Started from the second switchback from the top on the east side of the pass. We then skinned and hiked up the drainage into Mountain Boy Park, where we continued up to a saddle around 12,800 feet on the NW ridge of Mountain Boy Peak. Skier 1 was still skinning up when Skier 2 was probing into the snow on the NW facing aspect. Skier 1 was on a NE aspect on the other side of a gully and was not caught when Skier 2 remotely triggered the avalanche. After the avalanche, we skied down skiers left of the slide debris and followed our ascent route back to the road.
Avalanche
Skier 2 had reached the ridgeline and was probing in the north-facing slope, south of the saddle, just below the ridgeline. They remotely triggered the avalanche about 10 feet below them while Skier 1 was skinning up a NE aspect on the other side of the gully from the avalanche. The avalanche propagated approximately 100 yards across from the rocks on skiers' right to the gully on skiers' left. It then ran about 300 feet before stopping. The starting slope angle was around 38 degrees. It was remotely triggered from a 15-degree angle near the ridge top. The elevation of the crown was approximately 12,800 feet.
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Date | # | Elev | Asp | Type | Trig | SizeR | SizeD | Problem Type |
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10/15/2023
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1 | >TL | N | SS | AF/r | R2 | D1.5 | Persistent Slab | |
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Date and Time
10/15/2023 -
3:00pm
(estimated)
Start Zone Elevation
12,800 ft
Sliding Surface
O
Weak Layer
Layer
Weak Layer Type
Faceted Crystals
Max Release Width
140 ft
Max Release Vertical
300 ft
Max Crown Height
55 cm
Terminus
MP
Road Status
Open
Area Description
North Facing gully on the NW ridge of "Mountain Boy Peak". |
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Snowpack
Small amount of basal facets from storms earlier in October. 30-60 cm slab of recent wind-loaded storm snow from last week. Surface hoar in spots.
Weather
37 degrees at the time of the slide. winds from the North West at 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. clear sky through the day.