Not one but two avalanches hit the skier, identified by the Utah Avalanche Center only as “Davenport,” Feb. 11 while he was skinning up Little Cottonwood Canyon around Lisa Falls.
Davenport was solo and behind a group of three skiers headed up Broads Fork Twin Peaks, on the north side of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
They were on south-facing terrain, and Davenport said he saw the group of three trigger a slide higher up the ridge. In hindsight, he said, that was his first sign to turn back.
“Instead, I fell prey to the restlessness that comes from a long spell of poor snow then stubborn [persistent weak layer],” he told the UAC. “My patience failed and I took a ride that should have killed me twice over.”
Davenport continued up the ridge, entering a couloir between Twins and Jepsons Folley. He saw wind loading snow on the couloir’s west side but believed he could stay to the east, as he had during past summits.
But a slab broke wall-to-wall, caught and carried him. Davenport deployed his airbag and stopped himself after sliding 300 feet.
Then he had to get his bindings out of uphill lock. But before he could ski out, the big one hit.
Davenport said he slid 1,500 more feet.
“My face was submerged immediately and my airway filled with snow,” he wrote. “While I tried to get my hand in position to clear my mouth I went airborne over a cliff.”
He fell hard and described being delirious, hardly able to speak but able to dig his face out and breathe.
The group of three above him was watching this happen. One of them skied to Davenport and called 911.
Davenport said he had broken ribs and facial bones. Blood pooled in a cavity below his lungs, restricting his breathing.
Intermountain Lifeflight and the Utah Department of Public Safety hoisted him off the ridge.
During the rescue, two more avalanches slid by the two skiers higher up, and the skier below requested a hoist before they too got caught.
“This was a miracle,” wrote Zach Little, one of the group of three. “This avalanche ran through what anyone would consider unsurvivable terrain.”
The final numbers UAC reported were a 2-foot deep, 100-foot wide avalanche with a 1,500-foot vertical. The issue was wind-drifted snow.
Forecaster Dave Kelly said the primary problem right now is the yet-to-heal persistent weak layer.
“Some secondary problems are going to be wind-drifted snow up on the highest ridge tops and then anywhere that the sun comes out: we turn the corner and start to warm up significantly," the forecaster explained. "So wet, loose avalanches on any of the solar aspects.”
The avalanche that caught Davenport was on a south-facing slope, the aspect most affected by the low-angle winter sun.
Little told the UAC the ordeal demonstrates the importance of communicating with other backcountry enthusiasts you meet on the mountain about conditions and lines.
Davenport himself said he was baffled and ashamed to push past so many red flags. He commended the bravery of the skier who rescued him, skiing into the debris field with “hangfire” above.
