A historic winter in Little Cottonwood Canyon has resulted in an increase in rockslides. KSL reports that a rockslide happened in Little Cottonwood this week. In particular, the rockslide came from the Gate Buttress/Beckey’s Wall climbing area and slid down the Cheetah route. The house-sized rock that fell led to significant damage to multiple climbing routes. According to Peter Lenz, a longtime climber who helped clear the debris after the slide, the rocks slid three hundred feet.
John Rogers, who was in the area at the time of the slide, described the dramatic scenes to KSL:
“I heard what sounded like a lightning strike, and then thunder, you know, a low, large rumble. The first thing [I thought] was, I hope nobody was hurt, nobody was killed. There was a lot of trees, a lot of trees down.”
Luckily, no one was hurt, and the only damage was to some branches and a few trees. Salt Lake Climbers gave a breakdown of the slide, which you can watch below.
Julia Geisler, who is the executive director of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, explained no one was in the landing zone of the slide.
“We were just super lucky that I think it was a little bit drizzly that evening when the rock fall occurred. There weren’t climbers in this exact zone, and our trail crews were not also in this exact zone.”
The situation is a reminder for climbers to be mindful of where there climbing, and to check the weather before going out. Obviously, the Gate Buttress area is currently not safe to climb in. A video report from KSL is below.
Image Credits: KSL (Featured Image), Maddie Collet (Header Image), Salt Lake Climbers Alliance
Video Credits: Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, KSL
