Witnessed Sz 2 - Saphire Col

Our group witnessed the first skier of four triggering an avalanche while descending the south side of Saphire Col. Skier was struck by debris but not buried or injured. We had been wrapping the Lilly from Loop Brook and had intended to ascend Saphire Col and descend into the Asulkan Valley. This avalanche surprised us as we had seen no slab properties in the new snow which was generally unconsolidated and bonding well with the Feb 3 MFcr. I dug a test pit in the ascent gully on the lookers left side of the slope shown in the photos. The 4cm suncrust which formed on Feb 9 had a few cm on top and failed CTE2 SC. The remainder of the snowpack below was more consolidated with no additonal failures and the Feb 3 was not as pronounced at this elevation. The avalanche however appears to have failed on a facet layer on the rocks and rock slabs out skiers left. The remainder of the party was setting up a rappel to join their comrade and to avoid the developing cluster we opted to backtrack and ski the Dome. Communication was an issue among the party during the incident, it was a good reminder to carry radios when skiing committing terrain. Apologies for the low-quality photos.

Incident Report

Party was descending Saphire Col on the south side as our party was wrapping around from the Lilly. First skier on slope skied the rock slab on skiers left and was 4/5 of the way down the feature when the slab tiggered. The skier did not realize that he had triggered an avalanche and was struck from behind and pushed along at the front of the debris flow. The skier did not lose any gear and was not buried, he put his skins and joined our group which was tucked under the cliffs on skiers right. The avalanche hit him with signifcant force and while sore the skier was uninjured.