Utah Avalanche Center

Snowmobile triggered avalanche. It broke on top of crust 53 cm down under the new snow. Couldn't find any weak snow in the crown. In another location nearby we could find slightly softer snow on top of the crust and got ECTP25 and 22 on top of that crust. No other signs of instability seen.

There were some storm layers of varying hardnesses but they have settled and are no longer evident. Most of the new snow is right side up now and well bonded. Other locations may have weak layer of soft new snow but we couldn't find them today.

Increasing stability

No wind loading at the pit location, but significant loading higher up.

Quick crown profile. In this area the slab failed on the new/old snow interface. We did not notice the crust sandwich structure that we found near the west flank of the avalanche.

Avalanche appears to have failed on a thin layer of weak snow sandwiched between crusts.