UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Avalanche: Highway to Heaven

Observation Date
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Avalanche Date
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Twin Lakes area » Highway to Heaven
Location Name or Route
Highway to Heaven
Elevation
10,200'
Aspect
Southeast
Slope Angle
Unknown
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Intentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Wet Loose
Avalanche Problem
Wet Snow
Weak Layer
Wet grains
Depth
6"
Width
50'
Vertical
350'
Comments

At 1:00 pm there were three separate Natural Loose Snow Wet Avalanches that were initiated by daytime heating and direct sunshine on the SE aspect of the Highway to Heaven. No one was in the vicinity when they ran. The two on looker's right appeared to descend almost at the same time and the combined width of these two slides was approximately 125 feet. This slide began in the upper cliff bands below the peak and as they cascaded over the lower cliffs it widened out and entrained even more snow and debris. The slide on looker's left was approximately 50 feet wide. Forecasters note: these were intentionally ski cut by Solitude Patrol during avalanche mitigation.

Coordinates