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Imagine this: you've just popped onto Solitude Mountain Resort's YouTube channel to check their webcams, see how busy the lift lines are, check the conditions, and so on, when something in the Honeycomb Canyon webcam catches your eye.
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a giant avalanche ripping down Honeycomb Canyon!
On the morning of Tuesday, January 14, 2025, ski patrollers at Solitude, Utah released a massive slide while performing avalanche mitigation measures. The slide ripped down Honeycomb Canyon, a section of terrain at Solitude that's pretty much entirely expert terrain. The terrain was closed at the time of the avalanche.
Both of the Canyon's east and west facing walls have a fair amount of terrain with slope angles between 25 and 30 degrees, a.k.a prime avalanche terrain. The Canyon's funnel shape also makes it a prime terrain trap if someone were to be caught in a slide.
Check out the video by tapping or clicking below. The clip does not have sound. It was recorded on Solitude's Honeycomb Canyon webcam on January 14, 2025. Look for the puff of smoke from the detonated explosive around the two-second mark of the video. The avalanche releases shortly after.
Video: Solitude Ski Patrol Triggers Large Honeycomb Canyon Avalanche
Solitude Ski Patrol Triggers Avalanche, January 14, 2025. (0:43)
Solitude patrollers have been hard at work to safely open up terrain like Honeycomb Canyon, however, Utah has been experiencing especially dangerous avalanche conditions this season.
A persistent weak layer has been present around the Salt Lake area making snow conditions particularly touchy. While danger is currently rated as Moderate for much of the area, the video at Solitude illustrates that slides are possible, and that the consequences of triggering one could be pretty big.
Solitude has also dealt with an increase in skiers ducking ropes this season. Ducking ropes puts not only those skiers at huge risk, but also endangers the patrollers working to open up terrain so folks can ski it safely, and it can unnecessarily exacerbate patrol resources.
In an effort to remind guests of this, Solitude's Ski Patrol Director posted a video to the resort's Instagram asking skiers to not duck ropes. He also announced the mountain's new policy that anyone caught ducking ropes will have their pass pulled for a minimum of 30 days.
Videos such as the one above illustrate not only the very real dangers and consequences of skiing in closed terrain, but the high-level skills needed to work in such conditions.
Contrary to the shared beliefs of the ignorant, ski patrollers are not there to put ropes up to ruin your fun. Western ski patrollers are highly-educated avalanche professionals whose work often involves using explosives to trigger avalanches, like the video above.
Thank a ski patroller the next time you see one.
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