Sawatch

Avalanche

Nick Vincent · Mar 7, 2017 · Sawatch

View on map

Weather

@ 11,600 NE aspect looking into porcupine gulch Winds - Moderate from the west with blowing snow Sky - SCT Temps - N/O Precip - No

Snowpack

F to 4F hard wind slab on surface of NE aspect we skied when slide was triggered No other obs

Avalanche

@ 11,600 ft on a NE Aspect above Porcupine Gulch NW of Uncle Buds Hut. Slide occurred on 3-7-17 at approximately 1500. We skied a lower angled portion of the connected slope when we heard a large whumpf followed by a rumble on the slope. Skier 1 saw the slide run as he came to a stop. Start zone was visually being wind loaded and had an incline between 35 and 40 degrees. Crown was sitting right on a convexity and propagated across most of the slide path connecting small trees along the ridge. R4D2. Crown appeared to be 1 meter in height, maybe less. Avalanche appeared to have broken on the layer buried last Tuesday based on other reports. This was a remote trigger. Slide ran about 150ft downhill. Not sure how far across.