Asulkan

Incident

Kursten Smith · Dec 20, 2016 · Glacier

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Quick report

Weather
stormy, cloudy
Ride Type
openTrees
Stayed Away
convexSlopes
Riding Quality
good
Snow Conditions
windAffected, powder
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSound, avalancheConditionSnow

1x SA sz 1 on E aspect 2050 m Crown 30 - 50 cm on Dec 19 below Asulkan Hut , Partial burial , no lost equipment, no injuries. We put a skin track across a lee slope and traveled with spacing between use. When the 2nd person arrived at the crest to join the 1st , the 3rd was in the middle of the slope with about 15m of slope above. The slab propagated and released and knocked the 3rd off their feet with the dense slab. A 2nd avalanche was remoted just above the Asulkan hut to a Sz1.5 on a SW aspect (no Involvement) we quickly decided the mtn was telling use to turn around. We skied the great snow in the tree triangle down to the trail and called it a day. New storm snow is sitting on a weak facet layer that is not bonding well, along with wind slabs and storm slabs of varying depth in the alp, makes things spicy.

Avalanche

Run Length
50
Slab Width
20
Trigger Type
skier
Wind Exposure
reverseLoadedSlope
Avalanche Size
1.5
Trigger Sub Type
remote
Start Zone Aspect
SW
Vegetation Cover
openSlope
Avalanche Character
windSlab, stormSlab
Number Of Avalanches
1
Start Zone Elevation
2150
Weak Layer Burial Date
2016-12-19T20:00:00.000Z
Avalanche Observation
12to24hrsAgo
Start Zone Elevation Band
alp
Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
2016-12-19T12:00:00

we also noticed several, releases on the S - SW features (up to sz 1). we had cracking and propagation on rolls with skin track setting in lower elevation ( 1700 approximately) on the E - SE

Incident

Group Size
3
Group Activity
skiing
Number Involved
1
Terrain Shape Trigger Point
planar
Number Partly Buried Able Breathing
1

1x SA sz 1 on E aspect 2050 m Crown 30 - 50 cm on Dec 19 below Asulkan Hut , Partial burial , no lost equipment, no injuries. the involved person was able to cough up the snow in their mouth We put a skin track across a lee slope and traveled with spacing between use. When the 2nd person arrived at the crest to join the 1st , the 3rd was in the middle of the slope with about 15m of slope above. The slab propagated form near where the first 2 where standing, released and knocked the 3rd off their feet with a dense slab.