Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 5 m
- Trigger Type
- Natural
- Start Zone Aspect
- North
- Start Zone Elevation
- 3200 m
Arrived at the base of the couloirs at approximately 11 am. It had been overcast all morning but cleared up around that time, and we began to see the sun affecting the east facing cornices. We saw four small to medium sized cornices collapse during our approach which resulted in relatively small sloughs at the base of the cliffs.
We booted up the eastern couloir, choosing it over the west to avoid the significant overhead hazard. Shortly after arriving at the top of the couloirs a very large cornice broke and fell into the west couloir, triggering an avalanche.
We observed two groups boot packing up the couloir forty-five minutes to an hour prior to the avalanche (their skin track is visible in the photos).
Overall, conditions were decent early but deteriorated as the day progressed, and the significant cornice hazard above the west couloir remains.