Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 38 m
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Slab Thickness
- 18 cm
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northeast
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2804 m
To be expected near the ridges were some sensitive drifts, I got these to crack with hard stomps, but they never pulled out - see photo.
Once down off the ridge, there was no wind effect and I opened up the first pitch of Doug's. I tucked into the trees before regrouping with my partner. The snow near the top of the line didn't have a crust, and we only experienced some minor sluffs within the new snow.
My partner then took the second section of the line, and this is where he intentionally set this off. Knowing that the snow changed and now experiencing a crust, it took him a couple ski cuts for it to break. It propagated more than he thought it would, see photo for connectivity.
It seems like the lower section of the line took a bit of cross-loading from the S/SW and that's why it didn't go on the initial roll over - he needed to be a bit more into the break to get some action. He exited stage left - sending off another pocket which was cross loaded as well. The slide ran down the remainder of the line and he watched it go from the high bushes and trees.
As the next wave moves in tomorrow it will be even more important to dig down and find these crusts, and see how they're reacting with the new load. We left at noon as it was beginning to warm up.