Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 30 m
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Slab Thickness
- 51 cm
- Start Zone Aspect
- East
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2865 m
We followed the skinner up Reed and Benson Ridgeline above Donut Falls. After veering off skinner slightly to peek at eastern aspect, I remotely triggered cornice failure about three feet from edge that propagated about 20' width and 20" deep of fresh, low density wind slab snow. After a very brief pause, the snowpack on either side failed and propagated 100' across. The snow ran out of sight or into small terrain traps (highly wooded area).
The easterly wind loading was easy to spot as soon as we gained the ridge, so we opted to ski the western aspect north of Virgina Slims.
The new, low density snow has failed to bond to the base layer, but it was was more slough management and stopping in safe areas to allow for soft slabs to pass. The snow only reacted with hard cut turns or aggressive stopping. We skied an open drainage that was quite nice after observing the semi-safe snow.
We also skied the Tube under Hallway, snow was even more stable due to lower angle. We did not ski Hallway due to higher angle and ridiculously deep snow.