Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 46 m
- Weak Layer
- New Snow/Old Snow Interface
- Trigger Type
- Skier
- Avalanche Type
- Soft Slab
- Trigger Detail
- Remotely Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- Southeast
- Avalanche Problem
- New Snow
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2743 m
Downhill travel route was the lower angle ridge that diagonals to looker's left of the crown in the photo. Second skier remotely triggered this wind loaded pocket from about 50' away on the ridge in a mid-30s rollover. It quickly scooped up a considerable volume of new snow and ran down into the flats of the steep-walled gulley below. The bed surface was a stout sun crust. We were unable to access the runout zone safely but observed no tracks leading into the area of the slide from above or below. While I was not surprised to see this terrain slide today, I was quite surprised to trigger it remotely so far back from the rollover. A cheap and humbling reminder to give a wide berth to cornices and wind loaded starting zones when traveling on ridges.
UAC staff traveling on the adjacent ridgeline (Lees Fork) submitted three additional photos of the avalanche.