Avalanche Burial at the Back of Boulder Creek

muskosfquko9 , Monday 17th February, 2025 1:15PM

We had planned to go up into east boulder creek at the usual spot, starting at roughly 880m, but the coverage through the trees seemed unnavigable with the current snow pack. So we continued 12 km up the boulder creek trail to near the back. We found excellent snow in the sparse trees , but continued higher into open terrain. There was evidence of a small slab avalanche, size 1 to 2, that had slid possibly in the last week or sooner. As we climbed higher the snow conditions deteriorated. As we approached a minor concavity the snow beneath us began to crack and break. We tried to hug the lookers left wall . Walking over to it the skier higher up felt the snowpack release. The skier higher up was to lookers right and both were facing lookers left. The skier higher up (aprox 20 metres above the other) yelled "avalanche" and had time to yell to the lower partner to run as fast to the side as possible. The slab released roughly 25 metres above the top skier, along a convexity. Shooting roughly 100 metres across At roughly the same time the skier higher up (skier A) was swept downhill. Skier B was able to move roughly 4 to 6 metres to the side before Skier B was caught in the avalanche as well. Skier A was carried 100m downslope, and was able to release skis and poles, but was swept into a position where they were travelling headfirst and fighting to keep their head above the snowpack. As the snowpack slowed down, Skier A was able to raise their head and one arm above the debris, while the rest of their body was locked in position below the snowpack. Skier B was carried roughly 15 meters down the avalanche, but was not buried. Skier B was able to see Skier A, and skied down to dig out. It is tough to estimate the crown size, and it looked variable along the crown horizon, but would be estimated to about 20 cm on average, with a much deeper section to lookers left. The slide length was approximately 350 metres long, and the buried skier was roughly 150 metres down from the top. There is a lot of learning for us from this incident. We succumbed to a commitment bias, by just wanting to get past that one risky section, when we should have considered the evidence in front of us. The snow was much better down in the trees and we would have had a much better day down there anyways. We also did not tell anyone where we were. All in all, we got incredibly lucky to come away from this avalanche alive. From a technical level, I do not understand how it didn't fully bury both of us. We who recreate in the backcountry must each ask ourselves whether the risks we take are worth it, but as I was carried down that slope, struggling to free my head from sinking under the enormous weight of snow trying to slide over me, I was acutely aware that there is so much more to life than turning on snow, and the risks we took yesterday were not worth giving up all the other beautiful things that life has to offer.