Quick report
Skiier triggered wet loose avalance
Weather
- Air Temp
- 33
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 4
Snowpack
Hasty put dug above starting zone before skiing the slope. On the surface: 3-4 inches of wet storm snow, above an ice crust (3-4 inches thick). A second ice crust ~ 10 inches lies below the first ice crust, separated by a thin (1 inch layer of poorly bonded snow). The lower snowpack is all sugary snow. (Total snowpack dept ~ 120 cm). Snowpack did not appear to be isothermic.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Type
- WL
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 10100 ft
First skiier triggered a D1/R1 wet loose avalance in the ~3-4 inches of recent storm snow on Togwottee. Slope angle was ~36 degrees in the starting zone. Snow slid on a thick (3-4 inches), icy, sun crust that likely formed somw time in the warm days last week (April 14- 19). Avalanche debris slid ~200 feet down the slope, and did not step down to deeper layers. Skiier was not caught and skiied path to a safe zone. Second skiier intentionally cut/triggered more snow before skiing down. No one was hurt or caught- and it seemed unlikely that with the current conditions enough snow would move to burry someone- but with more snowfall, a wet storm slab would become a bigger concern anywhere with buried solar crusts.