Avalanche

Avalanche: Highway to Heaven

McIntyre, Oliver, NoyesSalt Lake
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Avalanche

Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
15 cm
Start Zone Aspect
East
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Start Zone Elevation
3109 m

Observed widespread cracking while ascending the ridge towards Patsy and with strong winds loading the slope above us, decided to change plans and ski a low angle, manageable ramp towards twin lakes. Slope cut produced the first avalanche and we skied the bed surface. As we descended the low angle pitch, the slope above remote triggered north towards twin lakes and we watched it propagate in pockets down the ridge from a safe distance. We chose our descent route carefully on non-connected slopes but the snow was fracturing even on 10° rolls and was some of the most connected I've seen. We remote triggered adjacent steeper slopes from ~100 feet away. takeaways: hair trigger, sneeze and it will fracture, would have been scary with more new snow.