Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
Silver Mountain wants to remind the public that closed terrain can be hazardous, and closures should be respected. If skiers wish to go to true out of bounds terrain, they should do so only through appropriate backountry gates.
Regular mitigation on in bounds terrain at the ski resort the morning of the incident produced multiple D1 wind slabs triggered with explosives and shooting cracks near ridge lines. Wind slabs were touchy.Weather
- Air Temp
- 29
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
In the previous 24hrs to the incident, 20cm of snow had fallen. Winds were gusting in the 30's every hour that the resort was open, with wind speeds averaging 15mph. Prevailing winds for the day were coming out of the Southwest. Snow was observed to be transporting all day and building new reactive wind slabs.
Snowpack
Moderate-strong winds and new snow had been building new wind slabs the day prior to and the day of the avalanche. During the time of the avalanche, a watch was in effect for the area.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- NW
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 6100 ft
A party of 4 ducked a rope to permanently closed terrain and unintentionally triggered a D2 wind slab, that failed at an old/new snow interface. Snow at the bed surface was F-4F with a hard slab on top. 3 people were caught and carried, but no one was buried.