Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 30 m
- Weak Layer
- New Snow/Old Snow Interface
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Vertical Fall
- 122 m
- Avalanche Type
- Soft Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 30 cm
- Trigger Detail
- Cornice Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- North
- Avalanche Problem
- New Snow
- Start Zone Elevation
- 3109 m
Came across this fresh avalanche around 5pm. Looks like a party in front of me triggered this new snow soft slab with a cornice drop into Two Dogs. Slab was 8"-12" deep and propagated a fairly long way to the skiers right under the steep cliff. I didn't get too close to the crown but from a distance it looked pretty straight forward, new windblown snow failing on a slick bed surface on a steep slope. That seemed to be the formula for today. The new dense slab is about a foot deep and while in many places it bonded well to the slick bed surface, slopes steeper than about 39 degrees were sensitive. Fresh cornices were also sensitive. On the uptrack out of Days I watched another party trigger a second slide in the chute immediately east of Two Dogs. This time the skier unintentionally triggered it about 5 turns into it an he skied off to the left into the debris of Two Dogs uninjured. This slope also has a few pockets of 39 to 40 degrees. Lower angle slopes were slabby but non-reactive. I suspect most of this new snow sensitivity to settle out by tomorrow, at least until the sun comes out and provokes a nice wet-loose cycle.
Pretty riming patterns along the Emma Ridge.