Avalanche
Jared Inouye is a lawyer in Salt Lake City, Utah and an avid backcountry skier.
On Friday, March 27, 2020, he was caught in a large avalanche on Mount Superior in the Little Cottonwood Canyon backcountry near Alta, Utah.
The slide carried him over 2,200 vertical feet and he recorded a maximum speed of 77 mph with his Strava app on his phone. The full interview with Jared can be watched below.
Going 77 mph on skis is hard to imagine, let alone when caught in an avalanche that is about to bury you.
We wanted to talk to Jared to figure out what may have gone wrong that day, and how we as a community of backcountry skiers and riders can learn from his experience.
In this interview, he recounts the events leading up to the avalanche that almost killed him. He shares insights on learnings he’s had from it, as well as possible red flags he may have missed that day.
Jared wraps up the interview by sharing a message he has for backcountry skiers and how he hopes they can learn from his recent experience.
“As someone who has experienced the consequence of an avalanche, I just hope that that will someone how translate to other people so that they make better choices,” Jared said.
We at SnowBrains are exceptionally thankful for Jared’s willingness to talk about this dramatic event and his transparency about it. We know it takes courage to talk about things like these, and we can all learn from his account.
Additional information on the March 27, Mount Superior avalanche can be found on Jared’s Instagram, with his recent posts attached below.
