Cirque Forepeak Wind Slab

Quick report

Ride Type

alpineSlopes, convexSlopes, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

terrible

Avalanche

Run Length

200

Slab Width

30

Trigger Type

skier

Wind Exposure

crossLoadedSlope

Avalanche Size

2

Slab Thickness

80

Trigger Sub Type

accidental

Start Zone Aspect

W

Number Of Avalanches

1

Start Zone Elevation

2499

Avalanche Observation

12hrsAgo

Start Zone Elevation Band

alp

Avalanche Occurrence Datetime

2025-01-28T21:00:00.000Z

Incident

Group Size

2

Terrain Trap

gullyDepression

Group Activity

skiing

Number Injured

0

Number Involved

1

Number Caught Only

1

Number Fully Buried

0

Snow Depth Trigger Point

variable

Number Partly Buried Able Breathing

0

Number Partly Buried Impaired Breathing

0

Low doesn’t mean No avalanches. And the snowpack is still made up of junk. The day had been bluebird, mild temps with very little wind. Until a summit of Cirque peak where we experienced mod-strong winds in the afternoon. Alpine conditions were highly variable with bulletproof wind hammered surfaces or rotten facet junk. Ski crampons would almost have made travel easier. Also noted a 2-3cm very solid melt freeze/sun crust on solar aspects up to/around 2400m. We had a successful alpine mission until descending off Cirque Forepeak. Second skier triggered a wind slab at the top of a cross loaded gully which propagated up onto a more open slope. The avalanche stepped down to the basal/early season crust and continued to entrain facets and depth hoar. Skier narrowly managed to ski out of it with no injuries but lost some equipment.