Sa sz.2.5 on Shark

Kevin R , Thursday 2nd May, 2024 4:25PM

Snow stayed dry today on north aspects above 2000m

Skier Triggered sz 2.5 avalanche. No Involvement. See details in incident

We skied to a ridge crest at treeline, up tracking in the safe trees. Our plan was to ski down the mellow shoulder and back into the trees avoiding a large steep start zone on our left. As we descended the ridge the first skier triggered the avalanche, but stayed high and skied safely into the trees. Profile dug near the slope (N aspect at 2250m) showed 75cm HST overlying a thin crust. Density above crust was mostly F, with 4F at bottom 20cm. Compression test hard RP x2. There was widespread and ongoing loose dry avalanches out of anything steep, but we didn't see any signs of recent slab avalanches. We were right to be conservative and chose a mellow line, however we should have given a wider margin to the start zone. Were back to a winter snowpack!