Observer Name
Hunnewell & Slesser
Observation Date
Friday, April 3, 2026
Avalanche Date
Friday, April 3, 2026
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine » Tri Chutes
Location Name or Route
Tri Chutes
Elevation
9,900'
Aspect
West
Trigger
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
Density Change
Depth
10"
Width
60'
Comments
Went out for a tour in White Pine today. We skied a couple laps in boulder basin and the spire on some lower angle slopes then decided to go ski a line off the Tri Chutes Ridge before heading back to the car. We chose a gully to the skiers right of the Tri Chutes that drops off the ridge at about 9,800 ft and hadn't seen any tracks yet. After deciding on our line we dug a quick pit and performed an ECT that did not propagate but broke out beneath the shovel on a solar crust within the new snow (ECTn14). This crust was found about 10" deep within the second wave of lower density snow that fell yesterday. The first skier to drop into put a ski cut at the top of the gully and triggered a d1.5-2 soft slab on the crust we had identified in our pit. The slab broke on avg 10-12" deep, propagated 60-70', and ran 500-600' by our best estimates. We were fairly confident no one was beneath us when the avalanche was triggered but we did a beacon search of the debris to be doubly sure. The terrain to either side of this line had been skied but our assumption is that this isolated gully was able to collect more wind transported snow than the surrounding areas which made it possible for this slide to occur.
SS-AS-D1.5-R2-S
Coordinates
