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Little Joe lakes South aspect couloir slide

Published
Jan 18th, 2023 2:00 PM
haroldschaefer
Garibaldi
Details

Type

quick

Coordinates

54.881530, -126.816480

Quick Observation

Group of three skiing up Little Joe Lakes valley. I triggered a size 2 avalanche on a South East facing aspect halfway down a couloir off one of the flanks of Mt Hyland dropping in just down valley of Little Joe Lakes. The initial triggered slab slid down and triggered another slab which triggered another further down slope. The crown was altogether ~160 meters across and mostly ~5-10cm deep with a few more windloaded spots of ~25-35cm deep. I was deliberately skiing to a "safe spot" in the couloir when the slope beneath me ripped out triggering two other slopes skiier's right and downslope of me. I am grateful to ski away from this and feel a strong reminder to always be cognizant of windloading and potential storm slabs in all terrain.

Avalanche Information

Initial triggered slab was a leeward wind slab which ran ~12m before triggering another wind slab running downslope and triggering a third slab, the latter two being skiier's right of initial slab.

Incident

First skiier coming down the couloir triggered a wind slab halfway down the couloir. Initial slab triggered a subsequent two slabs skiier's right of the trigger point. ~160m accross varying in depth from ~5cm - 35cm. Debris slid over cliffs and settled in the valley below running a total length of ~350m.