Avalanche: Willows

My partner and I planned to ski the low angle powder off Willow Knob in Willow Fork. We skinned up Blue Bunny and skied Little Willow. For our second lap, we skinned up Little Willow, veering lookers left as we ascended to avoid the numerous downed trees. We didn't realize how far skiers right of Little Willow we had gone. We were below the ridge in the trees when we changed over. My partner went first, and stopped where she could watch me safely in the trees. We did not suspect that we were in avalanche terrain, as we had planned to only ski low angle terrain, and thought ourselves very familiar with Willow Fork.

I started skiing and hit a waist deep powder pocket, which is when I think I triggered the avalanche. My partner yelled, "Avalanche, ski left!" at the same instant as I looked over my shoulder and saw the avalanche. I was in the slide path, but was able to quickly ski out into the trees. We went back up for a third lap (on our skin track in low angle terrain), but didn't want to get too close in case of hang fire. Hence the mediocre pictures.

Thankfully, no one was injured.