Another avalanche - by Brighton

[AVA]

I just saw this on KSL and is about an hour old. I hope nobody was caught:
An avalanche occurred around 1:30 p.m. in back country in the Back Door area at Pioneer Peak, which is south-east of the Brighton Ski Resort. Officials are categorizing it as a class-3 avalanche. A class-5 avalanche is the largest.

 

[sledhead ut]

2 trapped and pulled out safe. No more to search for.

 

[AVA]

Good to hear it didnt claim any lifes.

 

[Kevco]

Ron did they say if they were skiers or sledders?

 

[BossRev]

2 trapped and pulled out safe. No more to search for.

That is great to hear.

 

[phatty]

That is great to hear.

really good to hear, i have friends sledding up that way today had that sick feeling for a little bit...

 

[Yamadoo04]

I guess maybe it was a good thing that my friends brake is broken and we didn't go ride early this morning. Could have been me I guess. Sounds like they got the people out though. Thats good to hear.

 

[sledhead ut]

They said it has yet to be determined weather it was in or out of bounds. This would tell me that it was skier/boarder related.

 

[Rock Star]

if in bounds I feel for the resorts. They are doing everything to try to prevent this. all the same, let this be a warning. This weekend the avy danger is STILL too much to risk being on or under a hill. PLEASE!!!!!

 

[Yamadoo04]

Looks like it was boarders out of bounds that triggered the slide. Both survived but neither had any avy gear. VERY LUCKY!!!

 

[sledhead ut]

Looks like it was boarders out of bounds that triggered the slide. Both survived but neither had any avy gear. VERY LUCKY!!!

I bet they were sportin an Ipod and Skull Candy though. Priority ya know.

 

[Freak]

I bet they were sportin an Ipod and Skull Candy though. Priority ya know.

no doubt

 

[Rock Star]

jackasses!!!!! They said they are going back out tomorrow... but wearing beacons. Where ever they go will slide. Back out... into harms way. Well at least the broken bodies will be easier to find. everything is unstable.... and it all LOOKS great.

 

[DragonFreak]

They were yellin marco polo and found each other hahaha

 

[AVA]

Lucky indeed. I'm sorry, but I doubt they will change their boarding style (out of bounds, not using their heads) and a beacon probably wont save them if it happens again. As somebody else on here said, "The best safety gear you can use is on top of your shoulders."

 

[mtnpull]

These were young kids. They went past signs telling them of the dangers and to be prepared. I don't want to criticize the parents not knowing their background, but as my boys get to the age of sledding / boarding / skiing on their own they will definitely have a better understanding of the risks of the back country and the importance of being prepared.

 

[uac]

"The best safety gear you can use is on top of your shoulders." Well said AVA.

The snowpack is gaining some strength but it's not good enough to trust all the big slopes yet. We were down on the Manti Skyline on Wednesday and found weak snow near the ground that could produce an avalanche. Check out our snow test video HERE.

As you can see it was somewhat difficult to get it to fail but once it did it propagated very nicely in the weak snow near the ground.

This weakness is not as widespread as it is in other areas in Utah due to lack of early season snow. However, I do believe it is in a number of the northeast starting zones. That would include all the bowls from Miller Flat down to Potters Canyon.

We also learned about an avalanche triggered out of Mt Pleasant Canyon (Pleasant Creek) around X mas. Probably broke into our well known weakness near the ground.

I'll be back down there on Friday to hunt around some more for the weak snow. Be sure to check utahavalanchecenter.org for up to date conditions before heading out this weekend.

Brett Kobernik
Avalanche Forecaster
Utah Avalanche Center

 

[Rock Star]

Thanks Brett,

With the very different early snow in the Uintas we are assuming things to still be really dicey up this way.

Will follow the reports before venturing out this weekend. I assume Craig is up here now testing. Nothing feels right up here!!!!

The good sign is inspite of peoples nature, a lot of hills are being left untouched. great news.

 

[JohnnyQuestUtah]

Four Slides-Fairview

Hi Brett,

I was riding up Rolfson Canyon last week and there were four different slides on a north-east facing slope and about 9,800 feet in elevation. we had rode in from the bottom of the canyon, after we saw the slides we didnt climb any higher up.

peace out,

johnny



.

 

[uac]

Thanks for that Johnny, that's good beta. After looking at the snow up high I'd speculate those slides you saw broke into old snow near the ground.

I wasn't able to see much today with clouds and snow for a good portion of the day. I'd be suspect of those high northeast facing slopes until we can get up there to dig around a bunch and see what's what.

Brett Kobernik
Avalanche Forecaster
Utah Avalanche Center
uac@utahavalanchecenter.org