Front Range
AvalancheEli Helmuth · Dec 13, 2014 · Front Range
Weather
Near freezing temperatures 0C and light winds at time of accident. East face of Notchtop at approx. 11,400'.
Snowpack
Approx. 1.5 meter deep in this location with mostly pencil layers due to strong winds that rake this slope. Last recorded new snow in this zone was the weekend of Dec. 6-7 where a few inches fell followed by moderate winds.
Avalanche
Two friends of the author triggered a hard wind slab R1 D1 on the east aspect of Notchtop while retreating due to a perceived avalanche risk. Here is one of their written statements" The first red flag was I didn't know if I should even be on the north (east) face of that mountain in December, but I talked myself into it saying its been stable, Caic has it in a green catagory, and what not. Second red flag was the second I saw the face and how wind loaded it was. I kept pushing down the warning signs and saying lets see how it is higher up. third red flag was ignoring the gut felling of we should not be here on the slope. Approaching the first ice section. on top of the only pitch we climbed I put my foot down and said we needed to bail, the slopes above I knew would be worse. At this time my partner agreed and I realized we had both been thinking the same things but not wanting to let the other down. We rapped off and started downclimbing. about mid way down the slope we triggered a slab. It spread about 200" and was about 12 to 18 inches at the crown. It flowed down about 150 feet to where the slope mellowed out. The slope was about 35 degrees and hard wind blown on top. The debris was only a few feet deep. "