Accident: Scotties Bowl 3/11/2010

Observer Name: 
UDOT LCC
Observation Date: 
03/11/2010
Occurrence Date: 
03/11/2010
Occurrence Time: 
Unknown
Region: 
Scotties Bowl
Little Cottonwood Canyon
Salt Lake
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Location

40° 33' 43.8012" N, 111° 40' 17.4684" W
Avalanche Characteristics
Elevation: 
Unknown
Aspect: 
North
Trigger: 
Skier
Trigger: additional info: 
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type: 
Soft Slab
Weak Layer: 
Facets
Depth (avg): 
20"
Width: 
50'
Vertical: 
300'
People Involved
Caught: 
1
Carried: 
1
Injured: 
1
Accident & Rescue Info
Accident & Rescue Summary: 

3 skiers left Snowbird boundary into a backcountry area of Scottie's Bowl.  One skier caught, carried and appeared to dislocate both shoulders.

UDOT will look at the slide and we will post what they find.

Here is a post on the TGR forum by the victim, which I reprint with permission after talking to him on the phone today.

skibum is most likely referring to me... skied supe with telethor, tt's cousin and whapworth this morning, what an amazing run that is. great snow, noticed some debris in the usual spots but nothing too scary. left those guys at the bottom to go ski the bird with a buddy, and had a great day there too. about 2-3pm, i decided to ski out to white pine with a couple guys, one happened to be a coach for the SB freeski team and longtime ripper so i was confident following his lead, especially after our amazing run down sketchier SE superior. we skied to the very top of scotty's, scoped a little, and he dropped first, noticing sloughing but nothing much. since it was N facing and i was thinking it had been pretty cold with inconsistent sun all day, wet slabs were the last thing in my mind, and breaking off a deep slab was also not really something i was worried about. i dropped second in our party of three. made 2-3 turns on the spine i dropped on, and then got the feeling something wasn't right. figured some slough was chasing me, tried to stay high on the shoulder, but a BIG slab had ripped out above and around me. the rest is a blur, but i got taken in the 500-1000 foot range down the slope, maybe 2-300 vert. couldn't get my avalung in, as i think my shoulders had already popped from swimming when i went for it, my head went under a few times, and i came very close to numerous large trees. ended up in the open area underneath, with a bit of snow over my legs (whice were above my head), but head and most of body up. both skis/poles were apparently gone (partner found 2 skis 1 pole), and my shoulders were both completely dislocated, but i was up and OK. later on in the clinic (I somehow managed to avoid a chopper ride and skied the final ~1500 vert out, hunched over and in some serious pain) i heard it was 3-4 feet at the crown, and 200 feet wide. no idea how deep the debris was, though it didn't seem very deep where i ended up, but with the amount of snow that came down i am sure it could have buried me (my partner was luckily around 100 feet away from my resting place). it was by far the scariest moment of my entire life, and by sheer luck, and maybe a bit of help from the swimming, i made it, but it could have very easily turned out differently had i smashed one of the large trees or ended up in a different spot in the debris. i don't know if it was stupidity in not recognizing the significant warming from morning to afternoon, or an anomaly that i happened to strike in just the right place, but regardless i am thankful to be alive and happy no one else was involved. i plan on calling the UAC tomorrow and giving them my full account of what happened (i got home from the OR, where they had to completely get me under to get my L shoulder back in, around midnight tonight), and am very interested to read the full report. i learned a sobering lesson the hard way, but am lucky to live to ski another day, though i have a feeling it is going to take awhile for me to feel comfortable beyond the boundaries again. be careful out there guys, i am surprised and grateful that after my ride on a day when people were getting after much bigger stuff then scotty's, no one else was apparently injured or worse.

Terrain Summary: 

This is very steep terrain right off the top of Scotties Bowl.  North facing and somewhat protected, perfect climate for weak snow to form and be preserved.

Terrain Photos: 
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Snow Profile
Snow Profile Comments: 

The weakness seamed to be buried near surface facets.  However, there was surface hoar present on the bed surface on the day of the observation.  This could have formed post incident though.  The UDOT crew had a difficult time totally nailing down the time period in which the weakness formed.  It didn't seem deep enough to be the early February weakness.

General Comments
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