Valley Bottom Skier Accidental
Quick reportT.Mac · Feb 16, 2026 · Glacier
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 30
- Slab Width
- 10
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Wind Exposure
- noWindExposure
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Slab Thickness
- 60
- Trigger Sub Type
- accidental
- Start Zone Aspect
- N
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Avalanche Character
- persistentSlab
- Number Of Avalanches
- 1
- Start Zone Elevation
- 1490
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- btl
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2026-02-16T20:18:00.000Z
Skier triggered persistent slab right at the bottom of the Hourglass fan, at approx. 1490m elevation, maybe ~30-40m above the ski out track on the south side of the valley. See incident tab for more info - triggered right below a rollover in what otherwise looked like rolling "meadow-like" terrain. Slope angle shading suggests a <30° slope, but locally it may have been steeper on the roll. Got complacent thinking we were pretty much "off the slope" and just getting the last few turns in fresh snow before skiing out. Our party of two had discussed the fact that the lower portion of the run was the steepest where it opened onto the fan. I was also aware of two skier triggered size 1s reported from Friday Feb 13 one run over on Hourglass West. In hindsight this is exactly where I should have expected the problem to exist, given the information I had. Ultimately a good lesson to stay aware of micro terrain features and to not let your guard down. I did not stick around to investigate the layer or slab depth/width/length. If others have additional or differing observations of the avalanche please post!
Incident
- Group Size
- 2
- Terrain Trap
- gullyDepression, slopeTransitionOrBench
- Group Activity
- skiing
- Number Injured
- 0
- Number Involved
- 0
- Number Fully Buried
- 0
- Snow Depth Trigger Point
- average
- Terrain Shape Trigger Point
- convex
Close call today at the bottom of the fan below Hourglass. Triggered what I think was a size 1 persistent slab (based on the depth and propagation). The debris likely hit the out track, or stopped just short on a bench. The slab initiated at my feet, below a convex roll between two standalone trees, as I turned left around and below one tree on the otherwise open fan. I was thankfully not caught or taken off my feet. The bench below where it stopped, and the creek gully/depression to my right were both potential terrain traps. My partner stopped on a flat bench above. From my position I likely could have skied the bed surface and debris to the out track, but I did not feel comfortable with my partner skiing to me, as there was still snow on the roll above the crown and fractured blocks behind me that had not slid. We quickly put skins on and traversed east into the forest and eventually out via the out track.