Avalanche kills

Two nights ago, the windstorm was fierce and whatever little powder snow we had created what is called, “wind slabs” all over the ridges. Wind slabs are extremely dangerous because as the wind bounces the eroded snow across the snow surface, it grinds up the snow into small, dense particles. By the time they finally come to a rest on lee of an obstacle, where the wind slows down, they pack into a heavy, dense layer of snow that can easily overload any buried weak layer.

With such a huge avalanche danger, a young, 24 year old snowboarder ignored the warnings from the Utah Avalanche Center and triggered a rather small slide that nonetheless buried him under three and a half feet of snow and killed him in Dutch Draw, at Canyons, just above our favorite spot on the mountain. This is the second deadly accident in 7 years in that area. Be very careful!