Utah Avalanche Center explosives trigger 300-foot destructive avalanche on Park City Ridgeline

The Utah Avalanche Center detonated explosives on the Park City ridgeline today and triggered a destructive D2.5 avalanche that ran roughly 300 feet wide on a north-facing slope near 9,100 feet, officials say. The UAC had upgraded its watch to a warning, described by officials as the most severe alert level available, and urged backcountry users to avoid the area immediately.

The slide was classified D2.5, an event size officials characterized as large enough to damage a vehicle. UAC mitigation crews reported the avalanche released as a wind slab onto a buried, weak old-snow layer, a mechanism the center warned can allow deep, remotely triggered failures. The UAC advisory specifically directs: “Avoid all avalanche terrain. Stay off of and out from under slopes steeper than 30°. Carry and know how to use avalanche rescue equipment. Find safer riding conditions on slopes less than 30° with no overhead hazard.”

Storms on a southwest flow since Monday deposited heavy snow across the region, including about 18 inches along the Park City ridgeline. Forecast guidance issued with the warning warned that a cold front arriving Wednesday afternoon could push snowfall rates to as much as two inches per hour, with additional accumulations by 5 p.m. projected at 10–13 inches for the Park City ridgeline and temperatures dropping into the single digits Fahrenheit. Forecasters said avalanche danger was expected to rise to HIGH on mid- and upper-elevation slopes facing east through north-northwest as the system progresses.

The ridgeline event is one of several recent mitigation and natural avalanches in the broader Wasatch. Mitigation teams working in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon produced slides up to 32 inches deep and 100 feet wide, while observers reported a D1.5–2 slide on a northeast aspect near 9,500 feet in the Lucky Days area and a large natural slide in Days Fork. Park City-area snow safety operations routinely use both ski cutting and explosives for large hazards; Park City Mountain snow safety director Andy Van Houten said there is “a team of mitigators who go out in groups of two or three and carry explosives in their backpacks.” Deer Valley safety staff have likewise described doing explosives work early in the morning and using ski cutting, and noted both methods can release avalanches of all sizes.

Separate fatality incidents beyond resort boundaries have complicated response operations in recent days. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement naming 57-year-old Kurt Damschroder of Park City as a person killed when an avalanche released just above 9,400 feet on a north-facing slope measuring 35 to 45 degrees; the sheriff’s office said Damschroder and a partner “were traveling through the Square Top area beyond Park City Mountain Resort’s boundaries when they triggered the avalanche,” and that both were carrying rescue gear but the partner was forced to descend because of “extreme avalanche danger in the area.” Authorities paused overnight search efforts and resumed the following morning with assistance from the Utah Department of Public Safety. State crews used a UDPS helicopter to drop explosive charges on the Square Top ridgeline to try to make the site safe for rescuers; the helicopter carried RECCO detection gear to help hone search areas, and a rescue dog later located a buried person identified in field accounts as Steuterman. Officials reported that helicopter-deployed charges also triggered another avalanche close to the fatal slide while teams were working to secure the scene.

Accounts from field teams and initial reports contain inconsistent details about victim names, ages and dates across multiple incidents; local agencies including the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, the Utah Avalanche Center and the Utah Department of Public Safety are the appropriate sources for confirmed identities and timelines. Meanwhile, the UAC warning remains in effect: avoid all avalanche terrain, stay off slopes steeper than 30 degrees, and carry and know how to use avalanche rescue equipment.