Avalanche: Ivory Flakes

Our party of 4 spent the morning in Cardiff. We were aware of the forecast and our primary concern was wind loading/wind slabs. After skiing 2 different lines in the drainage without much evidence of wind load, we decided to ascend the northeast facing collie between Cardiac Ridge and Ivory Flakes. As we ascended we took note of areas of obvious wind loading and worked to avoid these as we skinned up toward the top of the collie. Nearing the top of the ascent, we noticed a significant change in the snow as it became much more stiff. We discussed this and continued ascending working to aboid the obvious wind slab. As the chute narrowed toward the top we ended up bumping up against the slab on the skinner. We then saw out first shooting crack of the day the slab paused after cracking and then released. The slab broke just uphill of the lead skinner, who was able to step off of the slab. Second skinner in line was caught on the slab and took a 40 foot ride down the chute before self arresting. The slab contined down the chute and onto the apron. Slide was D1 in size.