Quick report
We observed minimal to no wind effect on the new snow from the current storm cycle along Shadow Peak Ridge. In medium and high elevations, the storm snow felt heavy but was skiing great, and at lower elevations we were kicking up lots of roller balls in quite wet snow. While skiing from Shadow Bowl back toward the face of Shadow Peak, our group ended up lower than intended in steep, cliffy terrain. During the traverse, one member of our party triggered a small avalanche. We did not observe propagation beyond the immediate area and no-one was caught or carried. We decided to boot back up to a lower-angle exit option.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5 R1
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 8200 ft
Skier in my group triggered a storm slab avalanche in heavy new snow around 8,200 ft on the NE side of Shadow Peak. Crown height was about 12 inches and while the avalanche was triggered in a quite small start zone it still entrained a decent bit or snow and ran out of sight. Nobody was carried or caught.