Quick report
A small amount of cracking on the new snow interface cracking . I had just assumed the deep weak layer had healed but I think that’s what it slid on. Old wind load on that week layer.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 9000 ft
I was skiing in a couloir up in the saddle between El Capitan and the Lonesome Batchelor and dug a pit half way up the couloir. The mountains up in that basin had gotten probably 8 to 11 inches if new snow and I wanted to see how the new snow was reacting with the sun crust below. The new snow was super light and unconsolidated to I felt good going for it. I booted to the top and avoided a steep section to the top that looked like it had been a little wind loaded from the storm we got almost a month ago. There were little to no signs of the new snow being wind loaded so I felt good about stability. There were some slight cracking happening as I went around the old wind loaded spot where the couloir had a steep kickback at the top but I guess I just ignored it. I dropped into the couloir right into the gut in the old wind loaded spot and made one check turn and noticed a super hard layer underneath me. I took another turn and the whole couloir ripped above me (probably 40 or 50 feet wide) it felt like there was 1 to 3 feet of snow around me so I think that’s probably how deep the crown was. I was able to catch an edge and pull myself out of the couloir before I went down the whole thing. Everything slid super fast on the sun crust that was prevalent in the whole couloir. Skiing down the path there was no new snow left in it. The avi debris fanned out at the end and was about 2 feet deep where I dug down. The avalanche probably traveled 600 to 700 feet