Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 30°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 107 m
- Weak Layer
- Facets
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Avalanche Type
- Soft Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 76 cm
- Trigger Detail
- Remotely Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northeast
- Avalanche Problem
- Persistent Weak Layer
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2835 m
As we skinned up out of the trees to gain the north ridge of Little Water, Jack asked if we all felt that collapse. We didn't, though we had felt and heard multiple while skinning through the low angle terrain below us, sometimes very dramatic, watching the slab ripple away from us and the small trees shuddering. We followed a subtle crack from where Jack initiated the failure to gain the ridge a little less than 100 feet away where we saw this large, fresh avalanche and deep cracks in the remaining snow. Calvin has a great video below showing just how soft but well connected this slab was. He measured the slope angle at the crown where he was standing at 25-27*. Other parts of the crown were steeper and others were likely also "low angle" terrain but not measured. I put it at thirty based on digital mapping and a loose assumption of that being a lower end average at the crown.