Triad

Quick report

Collapsing

isolated

Went up to the marble creek drainage following great conditions the previous week. Could park 1/2 mile from the summer trailhead. Encountered a crust over soft dry snow on sun affected areas and was surprised to find slabby instabilities on S-SW aspects of the connector around 5,400 feet. Northern aspects skied well and had dry powder (particularly higher up above 5,700 feet). Areas that get exposed to the sun on NW aspects had a light crust that weakened with elevation. The snow at lower aspects softened throughout the day and returning over the connector we noticed a wet loose that occurred throughout the day.

Avalanche

The lead triggered D1 slab while skinning up marble creek connector from hidden lake summer trail on S-SW aspect at ~5,400 feet. Slab was 8-12 inches thick, about 15feet squared, and slid about 15 feet and was created when shortcutting another track of the group ahead of us (creating a cut triangle). Followers encountered wumphing trying to navigate around the unstable area. Trying to get back on the snow led to additional blocks sliding off. This was in the morning (10am) when snow was still firm. In the afternoon around 5pm I triggered a D1 wet slab in the same location slightly lower. That picked up some steam and travelled 100-200 feet. Some natural wet loose slides on sun affected areas occurred throughout the day.