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Avalanche: Georges Bowl

Observer Name
Brad
Observation Date
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Avalanche Date
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Georges Bowl
Location Name or Route
Georges Bowl
Elevation
10,000'
Aspect
East
Trigger
Skier
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2'
Width
150'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Comments
I was touring solo in Georges this afternoon. The only group I came across was an avy class split into roughly two groups of 6-8 from what I could tell.
At the top of the ridge on my secund lap had a short conversation with the leader of the group a closer to Kessler on the ridgeline. The other party (that caused the slide) was transitioning where the gps in the photo is (a bit closer towards mid ivory).
I descended and in my return uphill about 3/4 of the way back to the ridge I came across a member from the party who descended the shot that slid. The guy said someone in their group had caused the slide and got carried to the trees roughly 100 yards below (sort of in photo but light wasn't great). Sounds like the person carried was partially buried.
I continued up to the ridge and got to a place that felt as safe as it could be close to where the party who caused the slide had transitioned. The first turns they would've made were over a rollover that was definitely over 30 deg and also a spot that if you're familiar with Georges, sits on top of a slab of granite. The failure seemed to happen down to the rock and propagated 100-150 feet to another large boulder. I didn't catch whether the trigger happened from below or above as there were tracks going into both.
It's always easier to judge from the outside but I do question if a group this size should've been anywhere near a 30 degree slope which by all accounts was in the red for today's forecast. I get George's is generally a "safe" option but there are rollovers closer to the ridge and when wind loaded like this one was, it clearly went big enough that it could have been a bad day. Maybe the avy class will have a better report ..