Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 11 m
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Vertical Fall
- 152 m
- Avalanche Type
- Soft Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 10 cm
- Start Zone Aspect
- Southeast
- Avalanche Problem
- New Snow
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2957 m
I have bad luck with Mount Superior. We continually triggered heavy sluffy slides at our feet as we made our way down fresh snow on the looker's right side of main Superior. One small slide came down from above us, triggered from a party setting up there kites to fly off the summit (thank you for calling out to us.)
With the 8am opening time of the terrain, there was a narrow window to ski safely. (Thank you UAC for all your mitigation work!) We were of the first to ski down and when we looked back up at the mountain from Snowbird, no parties appeared to be on the summit, and no additional slides seem to have been triggered.
Some of the slides ran over 500 feet and had energy. No good avalanche pictures because we were racing against the sun, but in the one pic you can see that the 4" of fresh snow has slid away anywhere we skied.
Forecaster Comment: UAC has no involvement with avalanche control work throughout the state. The UAC is not responsible for developed ski areas or highways where control work is normally done. This work was done by the Utah Department of Transportation and they are doing explosive work to protect the roadway and not for backcountry travelers. Please respect their closures and thank you for noting that you did not travel into this terrain until it was opened to backcountry travelers.