Avalanche: Firewater

Observer Name
Watson, Ritterson, Jiricko & Ambler
Observation Date
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Avalanche Date
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Little Water » Firewater
Location Name or Route
Firewater
Elevation
9,300'
Aspect
Northeast
Slope Angle
30°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Remotely Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Weak Layer
Facets
Depth
2.5'
Width
350'
Vertical
Unknown
Comments

As we skinned up out of the trees to gain the north ridge of Little Water, Jack asked if we all felt that collapse. We didn't, though we had felt and heard multiple while skinning through the low angle terrain below us, sometimes very dramatic, watching the slab ripple away from us and the small trees shuddering. We followed a subtle crack from where Jack initiated the failure to gain the ridge a little less than 100 feet away where we saw this large, fresh avalanche and deep cracks in the remaining snow. Calvin has a great video below showing just how soft but well connected this slab was. He measured the slope angle at the crown where he was standing at 25-27*. Other parts of the crown were steeper and others were likely also "low angle" terrain but not measured. I put it at thirty based on digital mapping and a loose assumption of that being a lower end average at the crown.

Video
Coordinates