Southern San Juan
AvalancheAnonymous · Feb 26, 2023 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Overcast with a period of heavy snow.
Avalanche
Three snowmobilers were riding in the West Mancos area and climbed the adjacent ridge line to where the incident occurred. We gained the ridge above a north facing open slope in the trees. Rider 1 descended the open slope to the right near the trim line, rider 2 followed. As rider 3 descended, they entered the slope about 10m to the riders left of the previous tracks. Rider 3 triggered an avalanche that propagated across the entire slope and caught and buried rider 3. The slide completely buried Rider 3. Riders 1 and 2 had eyes on and quickly initiated a beacon search and located rider 3. The probe struck him at about 160cm. They quickly dug down and excavated the snow from his face after striking his helmet with the shovel. Rider 3 was unconscious, but quickly regained consciousness when the airway was cleared. Rider 2 estimates they cleared his airway within 5-7 minutes. The crown was about 3 feet deep in the deepest spot. It seemed to have been a wind slab that failed on the interface from 2 storms ago as there was a prominent dust layer in the middle.