SALT LAKE CITY — Conditions in Utah's backcountry have been ripe for avalanches, with three reported Thursday and one reported Friday.
According to the Utah Avalanche Center, the first was triggered by a snowboarder in the West Monitor Bowl area of the Park City Ridgeline.
The slide was about 150 feet wide, 600 feet long and 18 inches deep. The group that triggered the slide admitted that they were aware of the avalanche risk but made a "poor decision."
"[We] had a bit too much confidence after seeing what people got away with riding yesterday and kind of ignored the problem that was obviously still there. Made it back for thanksgiving dinner and had a great learning experience for all," they wrote on the UAC website.
The second was caused by a skier. It was also along the Park City Ridgeline, in the Scott's Bowl area.
The skiers said this avalanche was also about 18 inches deep and 125 feet wide. They said they were lucky nobody was caught in the slide.
"Would have been an ugly ride into the trees," they wrote.
The third slide that happened Thursday was in the "Days Fork - Two Dogs" area of Big Cottonwood Canyon.
It was 19 inches deep, 80 feet wide and 450 feet long. The group of skiers wrote:
"Radio communication likely saved Skier 1 from being carried and even buried. Having your partner watching you with effective immediate radio communication (instead of yelling) can save lives. It also helped greatly as we were making a safe plan of descent for Skier 2."
Then on Friday, a smaller slide just two inches deep was triggered in the Silver Fork area of BCC.
The storm that hit Utah this week got a lot of skiers and riders eager to make some risky turns, said Craig Gordon, Avalanche Forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center.
“We've had some early season snow, and over time, that's grown weak and sugary,” he said. “Last week's storm overloaded those fragile layers, and this week we saw a couple of unintentionally human-triggered avalanches.”
Going into this weekend, avalanche danger will be moderate, he said.
“Even a small avalanche that we trigger could rake us through rocks or trees or dead fall, and that could definitely be a season ending injury,” said Gordon.
People will have to be extremely cautious when our next storm hits, he said.
“Unfortunately, we were off to a great start, but we're going high and dry for a substantial amount of time, and what that is going to do is weaken the structure that we have in the snow pack,” said Gordon. “Once it does start snowing, it's going to be a big heads up. It's going to get dangerous.”
The Utah Avalanche Center is now putting out forecasts every day.
