Front Range
AvalancheAnonymous · Dec 28, 2013 · Front Range
Weather
~25F, cloudy, storm brewing
Snowpack
8-12 in of soft snow sitting atop older layers in the trees, slightly harder windslab at treelike. no pit dug.
Avalanche
lead skier reached bench near treeline ahead of two others in group. stopped to wait. observed old avalanche debris upslope and looker's left. Decided to get out of area and head to N where desired drop zone was located. Skinned across wind loaded pocket / small bowl towards wind scoured ridge to NNW. When halfway through the pocket, the snow settled with a loud whumpf and then the upper windslab broke all around (crown ~15 m above skier at base of outcrop). well formed chunks of windslab ranging from 1-3 feet in diameter slide down toward skier from three directions of pocket and began to slowly move skier downhill. Skier was in tour mode w/ skins on and was carried approx. 10 m downslope toward base of pocket at bench. Skier tried to hold on to small tree but the slide slowly carried skier and snow over it so skier let go and deployed airbag pack thinking slide could easily go over bench and rollover and continue down steep slope into trees. However, slide came to a halt without going over terrace. Skier partially buried up to knees. After warning others to seek safety, dug himself out, and skied down to N and safety. No photos taken. Short slide path. Affected area maybe 30m x 50m. Skier very lucky. Airbag did not help directly since skier never swept off feet. Crown of slide 3-4 feet at deepest point in drifted / wind deposited area immediately below rock outcrop. Persistent slab broke on weak layer 2-3 feet below surface. Did not propagate to lowest layers or ground.