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Avalanche: Superior

Observation Date
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Avalanche Date
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Superior
Location Name or Route
Little Cottonwood Canyon Superior
Elevation
11,000'
Aspect
Southeast
Slope Angle
43°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Depth
16"
Width
60'
Vertical
125'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Buried - Partly
1
Snow Profile Comments
New Snow and soft wind slab on older crust layer
Comments
3 skiers broke up track on Cardiff-Superior ridge-line, the up track looked to be quite stable. Did not see any corners breaking and was packing in quite well. On the final summit up track noted some instability and breaking corners. Took first drop and broke on the ski cut and cracked up slope and took the entire face down. Continued down to the ridge-line and took down another line that broke without any support on turns and took first skier down about 125 feet, with partial burial. The rest of the slope looked to be unstable and the two remaining skiers took down the run out zone to a lower area of the ridge. Upon descending to the lower elevations the snow pack increased in stability and all skied down without further incident. The upper steeper elevations are still dangerous and caution should be used to take any lines down for any early risers with sights on Superior be careful on the upper summit aspects, they are wind loaded and deep with about 16" to 20" depth and dangerous to go!!!