Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAvery Nelson · Dec 26, 2020 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Warmer evening (30 to 35 degrees F). No cloud cover. Limited winds with some 20mph gusts. 11,000ft - 12,250ft elevation.
Avalanche
Alpine bowl off of continental divide with skiable aspects ranging from NE to S to W. Coon Hill area. My partner and I were transitioning on the ridge when we noticed that the skier to the east of us (the only other skier in the that we had seen) had descended and must have triggered a remote avalanche that hadn't been there a second ago. We saw him descend through basin down toward the trailhead and were then confident that no one had been caught in the slide. Avalanche broke to the ground in some parts with the crown size hard to guess based on proximity to the avalanche. Skier that remote triggered the avalanche looked to be skiing about 250ft west of where the avalanche triggered. Our duo didn't see the avalanche slide but noticed soon after the skier had begun to descent the basin toward the trailhead. Avalanche broke at about 12,250ft and slid to about 12,100ft. Occurred on a S aspect on a slope ranging from what we thought was ~28-35 degrees. Avalanched looked to have broken below a slight rollover around 1/3 of the way down the slope. Temp was around 32 degrees F and it was just after sunset (5:05pm)