Quick report
My skiing partner and I were caught in an avalanche at the base of the 11 o’clock couloir on Broken Top, 3 April 2026. It carried us 350 feet downslope, and accumulated several feet of debris at the toe. Luckily we were not buried and were unharmed. A recent storm had brought a foot of fresh powder, with wind accumulation up higher. Weather had been cold for the previous few nights, and was forecast sunny but cold that morning. However, solar radiation rapidly warmed the south facing slopes by mid morning as it tends to do in the upper bowl of BT. We traveled cautiously, noting occasional rollerballs on our line, and softening snowpack under our skis. We had decided to descend and were mid-transition when a natural slough about 200’ above us gathered recent storm snow and took us off our feet. We saw a second avalanche, similar size, in the same area just before we were able to descend. Overall, we assessed that sun warming had rapidly deteriorated the stability of the recent storm layer. We were too late in the morning to be on that aspect of the mountain, and should have abandoned our line much earlier.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Aspect
- S
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 8500 ft