Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAnonymous · Mar 27, 2021 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Monte Cristo Couloir, SE Facing, 12000-13000 feet, 30+ mph winds, partial sun
Snowpack
Same location, aspect, and elevation as above, wind slab increasing at higher elevation, turned around approximately 13k due to poor quality snowpack. Wind slab, about 12 inches deep even next to rocks on far left side of Cristo Couloir.
Avalanche
Approximately 12,800 to 12,400 on Cristo Couloir, with runoff extending close to 12,000. We had turned around at approximately 13k, and had just taken one round of skiing, with the other as far to the side in the rocks watching, with beacons. I triggered a wind slab below my feet that propogates to a scary roller feature about 10 feet above me. I had encountered this feature on the way up and tried to ascend it, but it was slabbing off huge so I elected to go around it to the left near some thick rocks that served as anchors. I went down the same way, but somehow triggered it just below. My partner was far enough into the rocks, and I rapidly backed up just in time to escape being hurtled down into a huge rick. I was aware of the wind slab advisory on SE aspects, but I mistakenly thought the Cristo Couloir was a S aspect due to one topo reading. Also, I had checked weather.gov, and the summit of Quandary had only gotten 1-3 inches over the day before, so I was shocked that it felt I was breaking into 12 in of powder.