Observation: Chicken Sh#! Ridge

Observation Date
2/22/2026
Observer Name
Hardesty and Maushund
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Chicken Sh#! Ridge
Location Name or Route
Chicken Sh*t Ridge
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Blue and calm. A few high clouds but the atmosphere could breathe. Warm.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

Powder and hot powder. Excellent skiing and riding still in the sheltered terrain. Surface hoar and cracking...

Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Cracking
Collapsing
Rapid Warming
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
We did experience three separate collapses in our outing today.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments

Poor structure. Boy oh boy. We went to investigate Saturday's catch and carry near the Chicken Shit Ridge (LINK HERE) but found it to be just a very small *new* snow avalanche that just happened to trip up the snowboarder in steep terrain.

_

We experienced collapsing on an east facing slope at roughly 9400', on a northeast facing slope at 8010, and on the hill above the Spruces parking lot at 7500'. (My wife reported collapsing today in our front yard at 7900'.(!). We were keen to look at low elevations and a profile (8010 NNE) showed a two foot thick slab consolidating toward 1F above the *fist plus - 4F minus DJL. ECTP19. Then we put stepped out of the snow profile hole to put our skis back on and experienced a large collapse.

Low (8000' and below) elevation bands on northerlies remain suspect.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Problem #2 Comments

Sun and heat taking its toll on the cold snow and almost easy enough to trigger wet loose in the dampened storm snow.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates