Avalanche: Oscar Mayer-east

East of Oscar Mayer in the glades about mid-slope (8,200’), I unintentionally, but not surprisingly, triggered a soft slab while up tracking across the top of a regularly skied slope. I quickly dug into the bed surface of this slow moving slide and was not caught. The slide had a 100’ crown and was on a north aspect. This slide sympathetically triggered another slide 100’ down slope. The crown on the second slide was around 75’. The slides together ran about 300’. The fracture from the first slide occurred on the top of a small 40 degree rollover. The second slide occurred on a slope of about 35 degrees. Both slid on the surface hoar layer 14” down. A few minutes before the slide, I dug a quick pit on a 33 degree north facing slope after seeing a shooting crack propagate 6’ from my ski tip. The results were CT16/Q2 and then CT14/Q1. Both tests failed on the surface hoar layer. The increased slope angle was obviously enough to get things going.

We'll want to remember this as an involvement, perhaps not an accident ...... Nice job self-arresting in the bed surface and not getting carried down with this dangerous avalanche....