Touchy in the trees
Quick reportA.Mason · Jan 8, 2026 · Shames
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy, stormy
- Ride Type
- denseTrees, openTrees
- Stayed Away
- alpineSlopes
- Riding Quality
- amazing
- Snow Conditions
- deepPowder
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSound
Knee to waist deep trail breaking in the Shames backcountry. Snow quality was fantastic though you could still feel the crust adjacent to trees and in steeper terrain. Numerous settlements and shooting cracks, though few propagating further and 2-3m.
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 20
- Slab Width
- 15
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Wind Exposure
- noWindExposure
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Slab Thickness
- 50
- Trigger Sub Type
- remote
- Start Zone Aspect
- W
- Trigger Distance
- 6
- Vegetation Cover
- denseTrees
- Start Zone Incline
- 40
- Avalanche Character
- stormSlab
- Crust Near Weak Layer
- 1
- Number Of Avalanches
- 2-5
- Start Zone Elevation
- 950
- Weak Layer Crystal Type
- facets
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- btl
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2026-01-08T19:00:00.000Z
Triggered several size one storm slabs, some remotely, 50-60cm deep on steep convex features in the Shames slackcountey. A look at the bed surface revealed that the snowpack failed in the facets above the crust, which was thin and crumbly.