Shames mountain cats area

<p>Three skiers while remotely triggered a size two avalanche while skinning out of cats at shames mountain. Roughly 60cm wide, 40cm deep and ran 100m;slope released when all three skiers were in the middle of the slope striking from above . We were ascending in the trees on the climbers right to stay out of the open bowl further climbers left but just as we were nearing the top we kicked out left a bit to and open area(sub alpine) and got smacked . Our biggest mistake was not keeping enough distance between each other, we weren’t displaced further than 10-20m, and buried no more than boot to knee height . There was many red flags at the bench below no dogs once we started skinning there was lots of large whumping, while climbing up no dogs trees and above cats we did not have any reactions as well skiing cats and no dogs we had no reactions. Previous post mentions observations of lots of hoar frost, this was a text book incident with warm heavy snow loading in the past two days, crossing into a 30 degree slope in terrain I’ve often considered to be safe and “chill” . Friendly reminder that the no dogs, no socks and cats area can often be considered a great area for storm skiing, be careful and attentive it’s real out there . </p>

Terrain Ridden

Convex slopes, Mellow slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Snow Conditions

Deep powder, Heavy.

Weather Conditions

Stormy, Warm, Wet.