Buzz ridge north face

nicolas.lauziere , Friday 29th March, 2024 9:25PM

We skinned up Buzz ridge with the intention of skiing the north face to avoid the crust and wind slabs. Found more snow on the north face than expected and skier triggered an avalanche. We later noticed evidence of cross-loading into the north face (SE-directed). We adjusted our plan to ski a lower angle slope and stuck to treed or low angle slopes for the rest of the day.

Point release initiated during skier's turn. Shooting cracks about 15 m sideways and second crown observed about 50 m below just underneath a constriction in the avalanche path. 30-40 cm soft storm slab over crust. Skiers was not carried in the avalanche. Noticed similar slab while skinning back up a steepening north facing ridge and decided to choose an alternative uphill route.

Skier triggered but not caught.