Quick report
As we ascended from the floor of Huntington Ravine, we noticed a number of different snow surface textures and pockets of fresh snow. Wind slab avalanche potential was on the forefront of our minds, however our chosen areas of testing, terrain selection and desire for soft turns fed confirmation bias that led to a potentially serious event. While we are shaken up, and even embarrassed, the experience was incredibly educational and a serious reminder that will deeply influence our judgement moving forward. Very light cracking underfoot from fresh snow. Active wind loading and scoured wind slopes. As we booted up, the surface varied between wind board, shin deep fresh snow and eventually chest deep fresh snow.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 30
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 3”
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Breezy, random gusts transporting a fair amount of snow.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2 R3
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 4700 ft
Skier triggered avalanche (D2) on a wind-loaded apron. Skier 1 and Skier 2 were positioned beneath the choke/ice step tucked behind an ice curtain. Both skiers decided this was the high point based on worsening slab conditions above the constriction due to a slab failure from a quick hand pit. Skier 1 went first and made 6 or so turns before the slope released 4 feet left of Skier 2 up at the ice curtain. Skier 1 felt the slope give and ducked to the right, then the avalanche propagated up just left of Skier 2, who then yelled avalanche. Skier 1 escaped skiers right before the slab caught up to them. Skier 2 skied the bed surface to regroup with skier 1. Both skiers delicately picked down to the floor of the ravine and noticed that the slope had propagated nearly across the whole ravine. At its deepest, the crown was maybe 12-15” thick, and the debris pile at the floor of the ravine was around 3-4’ deep.