Avalanche: Hogum

Party of two skiing the central coulior on the west face of the Obelisk into Hogum Fork (Hogum 200). First skier skied excellent wind buff for about 300ft. and stopped out skiers left on a sub ridge. Second skier, while spooning tracks of first, triggered the entire wind slab fracturing well above his location on the slope. The skier who triggered the avalanche was then carried about 700ft, through some small scrubby trees, to about 200ft. above the toe of the debris. He lost both poles and both skis, as well as his glasses and hat. He came to rest on the surface and, aside from some bumps and bruises, was uninjured. All equipment with the exception of one ski was recovered.

While we had noted the snow transport that was happening and had identified the wind slab (mainly for its quality skiing potential) we gave very little concern to the slope we were skiing. A short casual discussion of an escape option should any avalanche happen was all that preceded dropping in. I think we both believed anything that might happen would be small and easy to deal with. We were more focused on the terrain we were heading towards and gave very little concern to the Hogum 200 slope, which we were only using as an approach.