Ben

Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Tuscarora

Mount Tuscarora

10,400'

Northeast

Skier

100'

1,000'

I was observed this slide and was not involved. I was transitioning at the bottom of a run through the Lake Martha trees when I noticed a skier and snowboarder making a hasty exit from the northeast slopes of Tuscarora, headed toward the Millicent side of Lake Mary. Retracing their descent I noticed they had come from the prominent northeast facing chute on Tuscarora, and had triggered a sizeable slide partway down it. It was difficult to get a great view because of the cloud cover, but the slide appeared to start about halfway down the chute as one of the riders was either putting in a ski cut or simply cutting hard to the left into an island of safety about 1/3 of the way down. From my vantage it looked like either a wind or storm slab, as the bed surface appeared to be dusty. The debris fan was roughly 200-250 yards wide, and it appears the slide ran roughly 1000 vertical feet. I'm not sure if either rider was carried, as they both were making it out with all of their equipment and verbally confirmed they were unhurt, but it was not a spot I would have wanted to go for a ride. Yes it is the end of April, but there is a lot of new snow above 9000 feet. Treat it with the respect it would garner mid season.