West Ymir surprise

<p>Skiing the regular entry of West Ymir: After the second (of three) skiers entered, a remote triggered avalanche occurred to the west, about 80m away from the second skier, which ran several hundred metres to (near) valley bottom, in quite spectacular fashion over some prominent cliffs visible from the resort. The slide propagated in two main slabs, each a good size 2, with crowns below and up into ridgetop rocks averaging around 40-50cm thickness. It appeared to run on the widespread crust, but we did not ski over the bed surface to check out the layer. We encountered one or two decent whumps upon approach. This run has seen minimal skier traffic and compaction so far in the season (although nobody skis this exact part of the bowl, except a popular chute called Lone Pine which had debris run into it). The third skier felt the avalanche start, around the corner below some cliffs, and shouted to his companion to ski away to the right, but the slide did not impact the skiers' route. No obvious instability was found in the tighter trees below. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Steep slopes, Convex slopes.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Foggy, Cloudy.