A 24-year-old snowboarder was injured in an avalanche that occurred in-bounds within an open zone at Snowbird ski resort on Sunday. The zone that avalanched is called “Blackjack” and had received avalanche control work that day.
(Click here for 3 video’s from a helicopter of the slide and local new reports on the slide: KSL.COM)
The snowboarder was taken to a Medical Center in Murray, Utah for his non-life threatening injuries.
The slide occurred in the “Blackjack” area of Snowbird. The avalanche was 80 feet wide, ran for 600 feet, and was 2 to 3 feet deep initially. The slide partially buried the snowboarder. The “Blackjack” area had been open for 3 or 4 hours when the avalanche came down. “Blackjack” is a west-facing zone off the Peruvian ridge.
It sounds like Little Cottonwood Canyon was a mess on Sunday with high weekend traffic and the Canyon being closed for 4+ hours from around noon to 4pm. Several other zones of Little Cottonwood Canyon avalanched due to the high daytime temperatures including the White Pine zone. These slides stimulating helicopter avalanche control work to ensure the road in and out of Little Cottonwood Canyon would be safe for the weekend rush. The resulting traffic is reported to have been hideous.