I read "We heard of no close-calls or poor decisions in the backcountry" on the report this morning. I witnessed one very poor decision in Toledo Chute on Monday. Standing on Flagstaff at 1pm, I watched a skier make two turns in Toledo and initiate a sluff. He stopped and the whole chute ran out, slowly at first, but gaining momentum and entraining a lot of wet snow. He continued to ski the edge of his sluff path, and his partner (snowboarder) simultaneously dropped in skier's right, along the edge of the ridge. The snowboarder triggered a similar sluff, turned a bit farther right (south), triggered more, then cut left under his original sluff. Thus, everything skier's right of the main chute was sluffing, as he casually made turns down the edge of the ridge. The sluff gained speed and chased him down the face, gaining quickly. I (from over 2000' away) could hear the sound of the wet snow rushing down the hill. The skier heard it too, looked back, and yelled at the snowboarder (I could hear him yell). The boarder looked up, veered hard left, and escaped with about 1.5-2 seconds remaining before the sluff would have caught him. The snow proceeded down the face and through the small trees in the runout, bending them towards the ground upon impact. After it settled I could hear the two conversing at the base of the pitch, saying something along the lines of 'that would have been a bad day,' and chuckling too. It probably wouldn't have been a fatal carry, as the debris pile was not very deep, but it would have been very uncomfortable to be dragged through the small trees at the bottom. I felt that we were quite late in exiting Day's Fork (1pm), skiing back to LCC road down South facing Flagstaff. The snow was warm, wet and sticky. There was less activity on the gentler Flagstaff pitch, but it was still not a good time to be on the South aspect. I also noticed heavy wet sluffing on steep SE Superior. The steep SE Toledo should not have been skied at that time. It was a poor choice. You can see the path and debris from the Alta side. I didn't estimate all of the dimensions, but it would be easy to do so on a topo. It was quite interesting to watch it all happen. A good reminder to make smart choices. And thanks for the great work throughout the season. We all appreciate the dedication.
Observer Name
Jeremy
Observation Date
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Avalanche Date
Monday, April 11, 2011
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Toledo Chutes
Location Name or Route
Toledo Chute
Elevation
10,200'
Aspect
Southeast
Trigger
Snowboarder
Avalanche Type
Wet Loose
Depth
Unknown
Width
Unknown
Vertical
800'
Comments
Coordinates