Quick report
- Red Flags
- Cracking
Stairs Gulch today was a wild ride, with snow being variable, mostly crusty, with a rather impeding blockade of avalanche debris halfway down the gulch as a Valentine's Day present. It was old debris, and it had originated from a side canyon on skier's left.
More concerning for today were at least eight different glide cracks in the upper bowls, ranging from 4 ft wide gaps extending 60 ft across to smaller hairline cracks. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of these.
I know that glide avalanches have only been responsible for two deaths (one party) in Utah, but that was in Stairs Gulch in 2001. Here's that report.