Terry

Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Canyons side country » Shale Shot

Desperado/Shale Shot

8,900'

North

40°

Skier

Unintentionally Triggered

Soft Slab

New Snow

New Snow/Old Snow Interface

18"

30'

150'

Canyons reported 8'' this morning and we were just up the ridge from Killington Chutes. We decided to find the open bowl off the ridge that's visible from Condor, Desperado I believe. We knew it was a steep sustained pitch and thought the new snow instabilities would be manageable. I ski cut the top of the bowl which produced nothing and I watched from a safe zone as my wife skied the line. She stopped 1/2 way down to let the sluff she produced pass. Due to multiple small roll overs and the sustained pitch of the line we should have communicated before dropping that one would ski the whole line and wait in the safe zone at the bottom. I instead waited 90 seconds or so and ended up skiing up on her and noticed some significant sluff as well. We were both stopped just above this opening at the bottom. Em finished the line skiers right. I waited for her visual/audible and dropped into the main bowl, again ski cutting across the top of the opening. My sluff cut out the soft slab about 20 ft above me but I skied out without incident. I stopped in the safe zone in time to turn around and see the moving snow, seemed like slow motion. For how steep the line was it was moving slow. This line has slid a few times this season I believe.