Incident

Avalanche: Days Draw

WesSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Slab Width
30 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Skier
Vertical Fall
46 m
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
51 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
2926 m

We noticed this avalanche while skinning sheep shit ridge. It appeared to be skier triggered. We saw no exit above and could not see the toe of the avalanche. Deep debris was flagged on the trees. It looked like it would have been a real nasty ride. I was surprised and concerned that it was not reported. Hopefully all involved are okay, my partner and I considered searching but decided it was not safe due to hangfire and exit.

Write-up from person involved -

Was skiing by myself (first mistake) up Days Fork and followed an uptrack up Chicken Shit ridge to the ridgeline and was goimg to just follow close to the uptrack and existing downtracks, but opted to veer into Days Draw (second mistake) at a place that looked to be a safe angle. i made the decision based on seeing many tracks on similar aspects in Cardiff Fork. as i proceeded down the slope it shattered and started sliding. i tried straightlining to the edge of the slide but was forced into a small gully where i lost a ski and was standing upright as the slide surrounded me and buried me up to my waist. was able to climb out, retrieve my ski and opted to follow the debris path down so as not to trigger another avalanche on surrounding slopes. A sobering lesson to someone who prides himself in safe backcountry travel. Always go with your initial plan and try not to let the siren call of fresh tracks seduce you! no photos. just wanted to get to safety.

Photo below taken on Dec 30. Flanks of the avalanche are still visible.

Incident

Number Caught
1
Number Carried
1