Quick report
Party of 3 skiing above Galena lodge today. We ascended a sub-ridge off of Gladiator Creek to the ridge that divides Gladiator Creek and Grand Prize . Once on the ridge we observed cornice formation on the north facing side, and patchy areas of wind loading on north facing slopes. We decided to descend a northeast facing slope into Grand Prize in an area that we deemed to have manageable risk given the avalanche danger. First skier triggered a slab avalanche about half way down the slope, and was able to ski ahead of slab without incident. Both skiers above maintained line of sight of skier #1 and watched from above as skier #1 ascended back up to rejoin group. No signs of avalanche instability were observed prior to avalanche other than cornice formation and patchy wind loading. No obvious wind loading was observed in area where slab avalanche released. Slope able was estimated to be 36-38 deg . Elevation 9,700 feet. Crown depth estimated at 1 foot at max, and 50-80 feet wide.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 9750 ft
This slide was skier-triggered by the first skier on the slope, several turns down from the top. The avalanche appeared to fail on faceted snow in the middle of the snowpack before stepping down to weak layers near the ground on parts of the slope.