Northern San Juan
AvalancheJim Toman · Feb 9, 2018 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Partly cloudy, light breeze, warming
Snowpack
Windloaded storm snow from Tuesday. Powder conditions.
Avalanche
"Skier 1" descends without incident, radioing back confirmed safety in position below on apron. "Skier 2" begins decent while "Skier 3" remains at col maintaining visual. "Skier 2" selects a more directly center line from the col and on the third turn dislodges a small pocket above the bench before committing to the couloir below. "Skier 3" is able to shout and direct "Skier 2" hard right and away from the sliding pocket. As "Skier 2" moves right and away from initial start zone run out, a second, much larger pocket propagates to skier's left. The crown from the resulting avalanche measured slightly over a meter and was to the ground. The avalanche ran the length of the apron carting large rocks among the debris. All skiers were safe and in contact via radio during the incident and exodus.