Slab avalanche on elephants back

Location Name: Base of Elephants Back Region: Carson Pass Area Observation Date & Time: Saturday, December 11, 2021 - 08:10
Location: 38.681125, -119.983266 See map: CalTopo	Is this an Avalanche Observation?: Yes Conditions Alerts: Avalanche Activity Terrain Alerts: Obvious Slide Path

Observation made by: Public

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Observation

Description of Snow, Weather, and Avalanche Conditions:

Wind slab trigger by skier skinning. He called slide and rode a top the slab down. I was just inside the path and dug in as it past through. No injuries

8in Slab was built on an icy wind stripped surface.

Snow pit dug afterwards with very reactive results of wind slab and secondary activity on deeper layer both column and propagation test

Terrain Details

Terrain: elevations:

Above Treeline

Terrain: aspects:

Avalanche Details

Avalanche Type:

Wind Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

New/old snow interface

Additional number of similar avalanches:

Trigger

Trigger:

Skier

Trigger Modifier:

Accidentally Triggered

Terrain

Aspect:

Northeast

Starting Elevation:

above-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D2 Could bury, injure, or kill a person.

Relative Size:

unknown

Crown Height:

Less than 1 ft

Avalanche Width (Average width):

30ft.

Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):

150ft.

People Involved

Number of people caught:

Number of partial burials:

Number of full burials:

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Slab avalanche on elephants back

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Slab avalanche on elephants back

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