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Observation: Suicide Chute

Observation Date
6/7/2024
Observer Name
Jen S
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Superior » Suicide Chute
Location Name or Route
Suicide Chute, LCC
Red Flags
Red Flags
Rapid Warming
Comments
We saw no red flags for avalanches, but the last storm snow hasn't fully transformed to summer snow yet. What we did see was rockfall.
We ascended the apron on foot with the intention of booting and skiing Suicide Chute. As we got to the top of the apron in view of the chute, a rollerball came down, not large enough to be a concern, but I suspect it was that top layer of snow that hasn't had a good refreeze and also has not transformed.
A few minutes later a small boulder, about the size of a bowling ball came down the chute. There was nobody above us, so these were spontaneous.
Our group made the decision to leave before going into the narrower part of the couloir. We were back at the bottom around 10am. We had young skiers in the group, and had already talked at the bottom about why we were wearing our helmets, hot as they are, on the uptrack. It was easy to see and avoid rocks on the wide apron, but might have been more difficult to avoid them in the narrower part of the run.
While the snowpack itself didn't concern me, the rockfall is something I didn't think hard about until I saw one.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates