Older natural avalanche

Older natural avalanche

Date
Activity
Snowmobiling

I came across this older avalanche yesterday when I was guiding a group in the Kirkwood area, it’s an area in the Cabin Creek drainage. It looked to be an older natural slide probably just after the last storm cycle a few days to almost a week ago now. After seeing the old slide and taking a look we found a safe slope with the same aspect approximately 300 yards away with the same NNE aspect, dug a pit and did an ECT test with stabile results.

Kirkwood

North, North East Aspect

Approximately 39 degree slope (Because of a creek with open water just below the slide, I couldn’t get close enough to accurately measure the slope)

ECTX…When digging the pit we could see what looked like 2 weak layers in the snow pack and a faceted layer at the ground. We had no failures during the test and even after the test when I pulled and pried with a shovel, the snow held together and showed signs of stability.

 

Region
Southern Madison
Location (from list)
Cabin Creek
Observer Name
Jim Norlander