Avalanche: Wolverine

SS-AS-D2.5-R2.5. We planned to ski the wolverine shoulder down back into Alta ski area. Skier 1 skied far right on the shoulder, Skier two skied left of that track closer to the bowl, and skier three skied even further left. Skier three triggered the avalanche and was able to self arrest/ski off the slab. We re-grouped on the lower shoulder and although we were mostly confident nobody was in the basin where the avalanche ran into, out of an abundance of caution we sent one skier down to perform a transceiver search.

With two of us remaining on the shoulder to watch for any remaining hangfire from above, skier 2 skied onto the bed surface just uphill of the skiers right flank and performed a tranceiver signal search of the debris with no results or signal found. No tracks were noted in the area and we were now confident that nobody was buried in the avalanche. At this point we called Alta Ski Patrol to notify them of the avalanche and inform them that we had performed a transceiver search with no results. The two skiers on the shoulder then followed skier 2's tracks onto the bed surface to perform a crown profile while skier 2 transitioned and skinned back up the bed surface to the rest of the party.

We then skied back into the ski area via lower Patsy Marley, coming across another smaller avalanche which ASP was already aware of, and we performed a signal search with patrol there as well. Overall, a more sensitive snowpack than we anticipated out there today, this one caught us off guard and we're lucky we didn't have a more serious involvement. Old sun crust/new snow combo being the main problem to watch as this storm continues to load tonight, especially when the sun pops out tomorrow and settlement rates increase.