Avalanche

Avalanche: Pioneer Ridge

UAC ObserverSalt Lake
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Quick report

Slope Angle
34°

Avalanche

Slab Width
15 m
Weak Layer
Facets
Trigger Type
Skier
Vertical Fall
305 m
Avalanche Type
Hard Slab
Slab Thickness
61 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Start Zone Elevation
3078 m

all #ers are guestimates from a top and side view

Thought I could ridge skin pio to the dog lake sub ridge and ski it out w/out triggering a slide.

Was wrong. Skicut at top released slab that continued to pull pockets of wind slab and most of existing snowpack to ground to dog lake flats. Didn't do much post incident investigation, no secret as to the culprit, needed to down climb a bit to stay back from cornices on subridge and avoid other possible unintentional avvies. No obvious other than overall poor snowpack structure instabilities observed on pioneer ridge pre avvy or subridge post Thanks to b right on patrol for offers of assistance and checking it out from the bottom. Enjoy your holidays in a thankful manner top view

side view

likely suspects