Sawatch

Avalanche

Anonymous · Nov 9, 2020 · Sawatch

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Weather

Clear, sunny skies. Gusty with lots of active wind transport.

Snowpack

Approx. 18”-24” of dense wind drifted snow on easterly facing slopes. Beneath wind slab was a 2”-4” layer of mostly frozen, highly faceted snow from previous storm in October.

Avalanche

Skier 1 entered the slope from the lookers right and performed a ski cut which did not produce any signs of instability. A second rider proceeded to ski the adjacent slope (tracks on lookers left) and rode top to bottom with no hazards. Skier 1 then proceeded down the ridge, making several turns before triggering an avalanche near the convexity in the slope. Skier was caught momentarily but was able to ski out and back onto the ridge. No one was injured.