Sawatch

Avalanche

"The slide was at 11,900ft in open trees on a southeast facing slope that was probably about 35 degrees, maybe steeper at the roll. We avoided the slope, opting for a mellow gully to the side and remote triggered it from there (only maybe 5 meters away, but separated by a ridge and a few trees). The slide was maybe 50 meters across and ran 60 meters downslope, but ran onto a bench and didn’t really pile up much. The crown was only about an inch on one side and maybe a foot on the other. A crack propagated onto our slope, but didn’t slide (maybe 25 - 30 degrees). I would say D1. It probably couldn’t have buried anyone (willows in its path were left unscathed). I am not sure what the bed surface was, but it was a windslab that went. The whole morning up there was super windy, with lots of blowing snow. We skied a steep wind scoured/chalked line into Box Creek earlier. The wind was coming from the north/northwest the whole day, probably 30mph or so, with lots of evidence of wind over night. A small crown was visible above treeline from what looked like a natural avalanche yesterday or overnight on a southeast facing slope."