UDOT PLANNED AVALANCHE CLOSURES!!

Avalanche: Stupid Chute

Observer Name
Jim Mennell
Observation Date
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Avalanche Date
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Brighton Perimeter » Stupid Chute
Location Name or Route
Stupid Chute / Wolverine Cirque
Elevation
10,200'
Aspect
Northwest
Slope Angle
42°
Trigger
Skier
Trigger: additional info
Unintentionally Triggered
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Weak Layer
New Snow
Depth
12"
Width
300'
Vertical
400'
Caught
1
Carried
1
Buried - Partly
1
Comments
Around 11:30 a.m. today I was caught in a slab avalanche on Stupid Chute in Wolverine Cirque. Pictures of the slide attached. Approximately 50 feet from the chute entrance the snow started to slide and I could see spider web and the fracture line above me spreading toward Sushi Chute. The fracture line was several hundred feet wide (and wider than "typical" slides in that chute). I was carried several hundred feet and able to get myself out of the deposition zone. Was skiing solo. I had skied the area yesterday and the snow was wet and there appeared to be good bonding with the underlying snow pack. I had climbed up Mt. Millicent for access and there was an approximately 20 mph wind from the west and heavy slab deposits on the east fact of Milly. I watched a group test and ski cut the East Face and of Milly and release some large runs and decided against skiing that aspect. I anticipated that west facing and more protected aspects of Stupid Chute would be a safer route. I complete several ski cuts at the entrance (not much powder, solid pack) and approximately 30 feet into stupid chute (decent bonding with new snow, no noticeable wind slab). I then made 4-5 turns and the slide released.
Coordinates