Avalanche

Avalanche: Georges Bowl

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Avalanche

Slab Width
30 m
Weak Layer
New Snow/Old Snow Interface
Trigger Type
Skier
Avalanche Type
Soft Slab
Slab Thickness
30 cm
Trigger Detail
Unintentionally Triggered
Start Zone Aspect
Northeast
Avalanche Problem
New Snow
Start Zone Elevation
2987 m

Went up into George's today. The skin track from yesterday was barely visible but there. Started skiing the main line and then working our way back south on the ridgeline. It was snowing the whole morning, winds were light and variable. Some dry loose as expected that in steeper spots picked up steam but did not pull any storm slab out. As an exit run we went north on the ridgeline and skied the steeper shot adjacent to the rock band (on skiers right). Before we skied, our party stated that if we were to have something go it be in this area. 1st skier went down the middle of the face adjacent to two other recent tracks and stopped at a grouping of trees a couple hundred feet down slope. 2nd skier (me) skied from the high point a little closer to rock band. Popped through some small trees and fell back. I quickly stood up and saw sizable dry loose running by me. 15-30 seconds later i looked up and noticed snow bigger than "just a slough" coming down and could see a crown just below the rock band that had pulled out. Appeared to be about 12-18" high. The slide got to me and built up around me but wasn't enough to knock me over or bury me. It continued down hill and you could see a powder cloud as it rolled the convexity and continue into the trees. Got a free lesson today and grateful that it was not any worse because it definitely could have been a much more consequential event. Looking back and thinking about the event, my biggest question of myself and concern is at the top we said "if its gonna go anywhere its gonna go here". Yet we still skied it. Time to step back and evaluate some things.