Avalanche
A skier was caught in an avalanche Friday afternoon in the Dutch’s Draw area near Canyons Ski Resort. After triggering the slide up near the “Goal Posts”, heย was carried about 500 feet, managing to stay on top of the wash. Buried up to his neck, the skier was dug out by his party, and he luckily walked away unharmed.ย
According to the report from Utah Avalanche Center, the avalanche was 300 feet wide and ran 500 vertical feet. UAC received a report from the skier caught in the avalanche, who’s said to be “one of the most experienced backcountry skiers at the Canyons”.
I made a number of mistakes and ignored some obvious red flags over the last couple days. Suspect pits, natural avalanches close by and on similar aspects, noted snow “whomping” and the UAC report, all should have been clear signals to back off. I’m just glad all ended well enough, and I had a great group of partners to dig me out.” — UAC
Area needs to be brought inbounds and under avalanche control
Exactly! It’s a tempting area to ski because it’s right next to the boundary and you can see the lift and easily ski down to it. Unfortunately, this is not a controlled area and avalanches do and will occur.
Little bit of a wake up call here. I’ve hiked and skied this slope so many times. It’s just so easy to access it from The Canyons 9990 lift. You think you’re safe because it’s so close to the resort, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Two avalanche deaths in this draw in the past ten years and this guy got lucky. Last year I finally used better judgement and stayed out when the avy report was listed as Considerable to High.