Sir Sandford Range Avalanche

Avalanche

Run Length

500

Slab Width

200

Trigger Type

skier

Wind Exposure

crossLoadedSlope

Avalanche Size

2.5

Slab Thickness

30

Trigger Sub Type

accidental

Start Zone Aspect

E

Vegetation Cover

openSlope

Start Zone Incline

35

Avalanche Character

windSlab, wetSlab, stormSlab

Number Of Avalanches

1

Start Zone Elevation

1980

Runout Zone Elevation

1840

Start Zone Elevation Band

alp, tln

Avalanche Occurrence Datetime

2021-04-04T19:00:00.000Z

Incident

Group Size

5

Terrain Trap

trees

Group Activity

skiing

Number Involved

1

Snow Depth Trigger Point

average

Terrain Shape Trigger Point

planar

Number Partly Buried Able Breathing

1

I was caught and buried in a slide up in the Sir Sandford Range (northern selkirks) this weekend. The avy propagated about 200m and ran around 500m, the crown was 30cm+ deep. 1950m east/southeast facing. I consider myself pretty conservative when it comes to avy conditions and terrain choice, but this just goes to show that one lapse in judgement is all it takes. We had been skiing in the area for the previous two days. A storm had rolled in the previous evening and dumped about 15-20cm. It was relatively warm, the area gets whipped by winds off the glaciers and we had a much later start than planned due to some hut beers the night before, so we seriously dialed back our objectives for the day. We planned to ski some trees on the opposite side of the valley, where any reactivity in the new snow could be managed in low consequence terrain. To get to the valley bottom from the hut, we had spotted a fun looking tree’d ridge that might have been rideable to valley bottom without much exposure. We dug a pit and noted that the top 30cms was reacting easily but was fairly unconsolidated in that spot. As we crossed the small bowl that led to the ridge one of our group noted that the snow was slabbing and cracking underfoot. He opted not to cross the bowl further, and instead started to transition at a safe spot under the rock to ride the mellowest section of the bowl. The rest of our group continued across to the ridge to get a better view of the run down the ridge. We were all feeling uneasy about the snow at this point, the ridge didn’t lead all the way down safely and the line off the ridge was steeper, less supported, potentially wind loaded and more east facing than the bottom of the bowl. In hindsight we probably should have turned around and taken a mellower route down directly from the hut. Instead we discussed a route to get down the current slope. We decided the safest way would be to cut hard across to the rock and into the mellower section of the bowl at the bottom of the ridge. Two of our group dropped and cut across to the rock one at a time, riding safely down the mellower centre of the bowl followed by the party member under the rock. This is when I made the error in judgement, I spotted a more fun looking line down off the ridge that would drop me into the bowl but would require riding a bit of that steeper ridgeside terrain near shallow points at the trees. I dropped in and straigh-tlined for the bottom of the bowl. The rest of the party heard the massive whoompf but I was halfway down the face by the time I realised it was sliding, I saw the snow ripple like a wave and chunks breaking up. I leant back to try and ride over the bottom fracture but I was bucked forward and tomahawked. Through some miracle, my snowboard detached (thank you Phantom hardboot bindings) and I tried to stagger to my feet to outrun the debris. I was swept off my feet and carried about 100m by the debris. I fought for a few seconds but the snow started dragging me down, I pulled my goggles over my mouth to stop snow going in and prepared to go under. Everything went white as I was barreled over a rock but then somehow I came to a stop with just my head and one arm poking out, kinda upside down on my stomach. I was able to shout and wave my hand a little. The party member at the top of the hill rode down to me, found the transceiver signal then heard my shouts and dug me out super quickly. I’m uninjured apart from a minor concussion and a sore neck and nose. I’d been barreled into a terrain trap, had anymore snow come over I would have been fully buried and potentially pretty deeply. When probing after, we found spots where the debris was 3m deep. If my snowboard hadn’t detached or I hadn’t managed to ride quite as far, it could have been a very different outcome. Don’t let a fun looking line lure you into taking a risk. We’d identified the risky terrain, discussed ways to avoid it and yet once I strapped in all of that seemed to fall from my brain. I should have trusted the process and not made a snap decision at game time. I need to check in with myself on exactly why this was, there was definitely an element of “it won’t happen to me” I lost a snowboard, some poles and a glove but I’m grateful to have escaped with my life and an excellent lesson!