Avalanche: Northern Bear River Range

My husband and I went out for a quick ride this morning. We didn't have much time so we decided to head into a zone that we rode on Monday of this week. We had previously tracked out the east facing slope and decided with the little time we had we'd ride the little north facing steep pocket that looked so good on Monday. This zone is steeper (38-40 degrees) and somewhat sheltered and we thought it would hold better snow since it's treed and in a bit of a draw. We started out on the north side of the zone where the slope is less steep and found great powder hiding in the trees. We slowly worked our way southeast until we were ready to drop in on a due north slope. The wind had been whipping up top and I was a little apprehensive about dropping in to this very steep zone thinking there might be a wind slab lurking. I pushed through the feelings of hesitation and dropped in.

My husband watched me from a safe zone but I soon moved into the trees and over a rollover where he could no longer see or hear me.

The snow was a stiff wind slab with patches of loose powder on top. So different than the fluffy goodness that we'd been riding a couple of hundred feet to our left. I popped over the rollover and hit a nice solid windboard. My board chattered on the solid snow and that's when the slab broke at my feet. It immediately swept my feet out from under me. I knew it was a slab but didn't think it was going to do much so I prepared for a short ride and held off on pulling my airbag. It started to push me faster and towards a patch of small trees and into a small draw. When the rolling snow behind me hit my back and helmet it felt different. I knew it was more than a sluff and it felt consequential. That's when I decided I'd better deploy my airbag. I just wasn't sure if it was going to go bigger or step down into the deeper facets at the bottom of the snowpack. My airbag inflated just before I narrowly missed hitting trees on both sides. Pretty sure a tree punctured one side of my airbag. Luckily the slide didn't go bigger. It ran maybe 150-200' down slope and then stopped. It was just big enough to make my hands shake and be a really good reminder to go with your gut instincts and back off if you get bad vibes.

The avalanche rating today was low with moderate pockets exactly on the aspect where we were riding. Toby nailed the forecast about stiff windslabs and wind jacked snow.

Today we got lucky with a baby dragon but I was reminded about just how powerful mother nature is.