Party of 2 set out up Steep Crk today with the intention to ski dense trees and low angle open treed slopes. Several localized whumpfs were felt in low angle trees (on pillows/logs) after ascending through dense glades. Decided to continue to a familiar low angle slope above. Once at the open slope, we were lured a little further than originally intended by an absence of further whumpfs and tempting snow, despite being aware of the touchy conditions and forecast.
We aimed for a safe zone below and to the side of the prominent slide path above as an end point to transition. Spacing out, skier 1 reached the transition point. While approaching approximately 15m back, skier 2 shouted they felt a significant whumpf and settlement, which was also felt by skier 1. This remote triggered the full avalanche path about 200m above. Skier 2 quickly moved to the side before the debris reached their location, indicated by the red arrow in the photo. The crown propagated approximately 150m across and ran about 300m with an estimated crown depth of 80-100cm, suspected of failing on the late January crust. Promptly called it a day and skied very conservatively back down our skin track. Multiple more whoompfs were felt throughout the decent.
In hindsight, we recognized the many red flags that we ignored. The first whumpf of the day should have given us pause to turn around and complacency from being in a very familiar piece of terrain also played a role in feeling a false sense of security. A very humbling day, and grateful to walk away with lessons learned and not more serious consequences.
