Quick report
My partner and I had been in the same zone yesterday (3/15) and experienced soft, unconsolidated snow all day without any signs of instability other than some sluffing. This morning, the snow presented as more of a slab with short (<5ft.) cracks shooting from skis. Hand pits showed the new storm and wind blown snow breaking on top of yesterday's snow 6-8" deep. The lack of long shooting cracks lulled us into cautiously staying into avalanche terrain. I dropped the steep north facing shit first, ski cutting the skier's left side and stopping in a safe zone where I could keep eyes on my partner. He dropped skier's left of my line, and triggered the slide on his second turn, continuing to ski down the fall line while the slide slowly gained momentum and more snow. I radio'd to my partner, telling him to ski to the side, out of the runout, where he was able to safely hang tight while the slide eventually ran past him into the trees and further down slope.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 9000 ft
Skier triggered. Started slow, picking up speed and more snow as it ran past my partner (who triggered the slide) after he had stopped down slope and to the side, out of the runout. 6-8" deep, 50ft wide, ran around 250 ft.