Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 35°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 46 m
- Weak Layer
- New Snow/Old Snow Interface
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Avalanche Type
- Soft Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 61 cm
- Trigger Detail
- Remotely Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northeast
- Avalanche Problem
- Persistent Weak Layer
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2865 m
Today we toured from Beartrap Fork over to Lake Deso with plans to observe steeper terrain from the ridgeline, and potentially ski the lower-angle terrain on the end of the ridge. Any time we stepped off the skin track in Beartrap, we had large collapses traveling hundreds of feet with widespread cracking and also had the occasional collapse on the well-traveled skin track. As we continued down the ridge into untraveled snow, countless collapses ensued, and we eventually came upon a fresh soft slab avalanche(SS-AR-D2-R1.5), which we likely remotely triggered from 500+ feet away. This avalanche failed on the same old/new snow interface that was showing instability(Skier-triggered loose dry and soft slab avalanches) the previous day while skiing in the same area. The blower snow from the day prior had settled significantly due to a combination of warmer temps and an additional, denser load, resulting in a much more cohesive slab, which is likely the reason we were seeing these collapses travel so far. Impressive to watch from a distance. Given these findings, we opted for lower-angle south-facing terrain, found great skiing and riding and finally didn't hit any rocks.