Avalanche: Bells Canyon

My partner triggered an avalanche while ascending an east facing slope in Bells Canyon today.

We set out from the Bells Canyon trailhead with vague plans to ski in upper Bells Canyon and perhaps the Big Willow cirque, with the "notch couloir" descending east into bells from the big willow-bells divide or the NE couloir of Lone being preferred options. Once we gained the basin that leads up to the NE face of Lone we encountered strong winds funneling down the drainage, seemingly mostly affecting the drainage bottom and middle slopes. The winds were swirling and transporting snow haphazardly. We chose to shift plans and skin up a short, steep east facing slope to gain the divide with the south fork of Willow Creek Canyon to seek out more sheltered terrain.

While near the top of the slope (about 100 vertical feet below the ridgeline) my partner who was ahead of me triggered a hard slab avalanche about 1-2 feet thick. He was briefly caught on top of the hard debris but was able to quickly escape by skiing off to the side. We had been tracking softer, 4-6 inch wind slabs on the way up, however they seemed well-bonded and not hollow. This avalanche stepped down to a deeper interface and propagated surprisingly far. My partner lost both of his poles (we found one while skiing down the bed surface) but we were both unscathed (I was off to the side when the avalanche was triggered.) The debris field was likely not deep enough to bury a person but the avalanche ran through some trees and small rock bands and would have likely caused injury if one of us were caught and carried. We skied back down the bed surface and bailed on any further ski objectives.