Quick report
- Cracking
- widespread
- Collapsing
- isolated
Triggered an avalanche with a ski cut.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 9325 ft
I was ski-cutting a suspect ridgeline 15' downslope off the top of a very rounded ridge. Felt a collapse and saw the crack shoot out from my skis in both directions, and then it fractured above me, and everything started moving with another slope 100' over, experiencing a sympathetic release. I was able to ski out, and my buddy below was in a high spot, and the debris parted for him and ran about 1100 vertical feet down Hanks Bowl. I was suspicious of the slope initially as it was steeper and more loaded than what we had skied, so I chose to ski cut it and went a little too low. 18' crown at its deepest. The bed surface was sunbaked and refrozen. The first fracture was a wind slab, and the debris was heavier, taking unstable snow slabs with it.