Quick report
- Cracking
- widespread
- Collapsing
- widespread
I observed a storm slab breaking and dragging myself and sled down about 150ft. I was not buried but I believe I could have been if I had been terrain trapped in a tree well or other terrain trap. The avalanche report read high for the day. I would say this was accurate. I observed cracking and small sliding on all aspects along the trail.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Rain Elevation
- 8100
- Recent Snowfall
- 60
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
It was mostly cloudy that day and the temperature was about 25 degrees. The wind wasn't strong during the day but we had strong winds the week earlier. This did cause a lot of wind loading, however, I do not think that the specific slope where I was caught was particularly wind loaded.
Snowpack
The weak layer that I identified was the surface hoar layer. I did not dig down to identify the persistent ant weak layer or other weak layers that are present as well.
Avalanche
It appeared to me that the storm slab from all the fresh snow the week prior broke on the weak surface hoar layer that had developed during the dry spell when it was clear and cold for weeks. It was about a 2-3 foot crown that broke about 200ft wide in the trees. As shown in the video below it propagated pretty far up above where I triggered it.