April 24

Grizzly Gulch-Silver Fork-Days Fork

Elvations, slope angles and aspects:

6000-10400', angles over 35°, all aspects

Avalanche activity:

Numerous soft slabs, human triggered.

Cornice kickers on the north facing Silver Fork ridge initiated several, into the west bowl.

cornice kickers

Ski cutting Hideaway produced an new snow slide running about 800' vertical.

hideaway slide

Another slide in upper Days was triggered with a ski cut and watched a snow boarder take a short ride east side of Two Dogs path in upper Days.

Slopes skied:

East bowl of Silver, west bowl of Silver, upper Days and Toledo bowl.

Snow conditions:

There was 4-6" new snow early in the day. Winds had already drifted that, easily observed

wind drift

from the end of the road at Alta.

That amount increased during the day to about 12" by late afternoon. There were a number of density changes within the new

snow from intensity of showers and from continued wind

hideaway crown

illustrated by the crown in Hideaway park. New snow slides were easily triggered on slopes over 35°, with a cornice drop or ski cut, especially those aspects loaded by wnw wind.

Angles under 35° remained in place.

Weather:

Overcast, snow heavy at times. Wind from the wnw, gusting over 30 mph. Moderate temperatures.

Evaluation:

Unstable snow created by rapid loading from wind and heavy snowfall. Instabilities within new snow layering should settle quickly, leaving wind drifting and impact from warming, the main concerns.Ski cuts worked well as mitigation and should continue to do so.

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