Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAnonymous · Apr 18, 2020 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Partly Cloudy, Ridge top wind gust 10-15 mph. No wind below ridge top.
Snowpack
12"-16" of new snow. Avalanche triggered on faceted layer described in CAIC Avalanche Forecast for N Mountains.
Avalanche
My partner ski cut the upper entrance to the slope and stopped below the large rock, skier's right, visible in the photos. This portion of the slope is approximately 36 degrees and commonly rocky. There were no obvious signs of instability and up to 8" of new snow. I ski cut the upper slope as well and stopped adjacent to the large rock. We then decided that I would ski down the rest of the slope, initially a slope angle 35 degrees or less decreasing to 30 degrees or less, until there was an obvious stopping point approximately 600' below on 25 degree or less terrain. We would then send the other skiers in our party one at a time down to me. As soon as I started skiing the snow was deeper than up top, approximately 12-18". After three turns, I noticed cracking on both sides of me and a slab approximately 150' accross released and my partner yelled avalanche. I turned slightly to my right since I knew the slope angle was less, then since I was staying on my feet decided to ski straighter down hill to try and ski out of the slab. Fortunately I was able to ski out of the slab, which ran approximately 300'. Our entire party had avalanche safety equipment and I was wearing an avalanche airbag packpack. Since I was able to stay on my feet and quickly skied out of the avalanche, I did not deploy it. In hindsight, I should have. We were able to communicate and decided that I should ski down the lesser steep terrain, away from the bowl above, then skin up the standard route, up an E aspect slope and back to the ridge that connects with Bald Mountain. The rest of our party skied the ridge down to eventually meet me. We've skied this slope dozens of times withought mishap and felt as though it's a reasonable choice during a moderate hazard due to the slope angle, terrain shape and configuration, and moderate length of the run. Neither my partner nor I have seen this slope slide in over 15 years of actively skiing here. Upon reflection today we were caught off guard by the absence of any activity when we ski cut the top portion, the amount of new snow, and the obvious week layer reported in CAIC Forecast for the Northern Mountains. Since the top of the slope is steep enough to slide, it did under these tender conditions.