Quick report
Incident occurred near the entrance of death canyon in a south facing couloir. Myself and partner caught and carried in avalanche. We did not observe any signs of instability in our day of travel or skiing on all aspects. New snow by the time we attempted this couloir was 5 inches. Booting up the couloir we knew that there had been some significant snowfall during the day, snowpack under new snowfall was very firm and made for easy booting. About 700 feet up the couloir an avalanche was seen coming down. Unknown trigger or point of release. Believed to be a storm slab that released and brought all new snow down couloir. Attempted to drive axe and ski poles and lean against the wall of couloir but was quickly overcome and carried. Partner was carried 200 feet and I was roughly 700 feet. We both fortunately were not buried and were able to skin out. We were overly aggressive in our approach to this final couloir and should have recognized the possibility of what occurred with the snowfall that day. No cracking or collapsing was observed
Weather
- Air Temp
- 5
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts