Avalanche question (wasatch mtns)

[Bushwack]

Okay, this is probably a stupid question, but I'm fairly new to the backcountry scene. I live in davis county, and each winter I look up at front faces of the mountains above my house and have this desire to ski them. Of course nobody bothers to ski them because there are way better opportunities elsewhere, and the snow probably doesn't get very deep because of the low elevation. However I worry that if I were to ski them, and triggered a slide, it could smother all the houses at the base of the mountains. Even if all precautions are taken, slides sometimes still happen, so I was wondering if anyone familiar with the area had any comments about the slide potential on the faces of these mountains, and if it would be irresponsible to ski them. Thanks.

[goodtimes]

I'd like to think that you would not be aloud to build a house in the runout zone

[BasinDaddy]

I've actually skied off the Layton side of Thurston Peak, but it was in April so the snow ran out far above any homes. As a civil engineer I deal with developments encroaching further and further up the benches every year. Ya, hopefully most homes/developments are not in runout zones, but I know of several areas in SL right below Mt. Oly that are within the 100yr avy paths. Not sure if anything in Davis County is. Only in super epic years would it really be a threat. I know of a development in Mapleton where we've had to do some avy mitigation to allow development. Any homes that are in known runout zones should have measures in place to protect from impact, but there's just not enough info to really know exactly where a slide could reach. I wouldn't recommend skiing that aspect anyway...snow usually sucks and when it's good, avy danger is very high. Wait till the spring though and it's excellent corn if you can get up there early enough before it turns to mank.