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Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

Accident

Date and Location

Accident Date:
January 2, 2022
Published:
December 21, 2022
Zone or Region:
Mammoth Lakes
Location:
Red Cone Area - Remotely Triggered avalanche

Accident details

Elevation 
9676 feet
Avalanche Type 
Hard Slab
Trigger Type 
Artificial - Skier
Size Relative to Path 
R3 - Medium, relative to path
Destructive Size 
D2 - Could bury, injure, or kill a person
Bed Surface 
Unknown
Average Crown Height 
1 feet
Weak Layer 
Unknown
Avalanche width 
100 feet
Terrain 
Below Tree Line

Avalanche Description

Report provided by party involved

My wife and I remotely triggered an avalanche in what we thought was relatively benign below-treeline terrain in the red cone zone (9676′ elevation, lat/long 37.60093, -119.02250). it propagated maybe 100 feet thru treed terrain across multiple terrain features with a crown depth ranging from 6″ to 2′. Our amateur analysis is that the super low-density snow that fell 12/27 was sheltered enough in this area to stick around and act as an extremely weak layer for the thick finger-hardness windslab that fractured and propagated like crazy. we didn’t go look at the crown or investigate further (sorry!) because we were so spooked by the extreme propagation and focused all our energy in getting out of there safe.

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