Touchy Cokely

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, windy

Ride Type

denseTrees, mellowSlopes, openTrees

Stayed Away

alpineSlopes, convexSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSnow

Incident

Group Size

2

Terrain Trap

trees

Group Activity

skiing

Number Injured

0

Number Involved

2

Number Caught Only

1

Number Fully Buried

0

Snow Depth Trigger Point

variable

Terrain Shape Trigger Point

convex

Number Partly Buried Able Breathing

1

Number Partly Buried Impaired Breathing

0

We set out with conservative mindsets for the day knowing conditions would be touchy. The goal was to get some nice low angle powder laps on the old ski hill, while staying away from any larger convex rolls or steeper terrain which worked out great. On our return taking the Rousseau chute route, we decided to take a path which involved a small gully/convex roll rather than exposing ourselves to a more planar slope with small cliffs below. While ski cutting the gully which turns into a roll a size 1 was triggered, which propagated further and higher than we had expected. The slab was a wind slab sitting on a small wind crust with average crown depth of 20-30cm, width of 50m and runout of 30m. The ski cutter was taken 20m down with the snow and uninjured. While it was luckily not a serious incident it was a good reminder to assess the terrain we travel on with additional caution during heightened avalanche conditions, as we were taken by surprise with how much more snow slid than we expected.