Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnonymous · Apr 3, 2016 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Clear, bluebird day. Little-to-no wind. No wind or snowfall night before.
Avalanche
Two skiers approached the top of the Little Wasatch Face around noon. After transitioning, skiers headed NW across the ridge toward the top of the Grandfather Couloir. They approached two snowboarders who were also planning to ski the Grandfather, but entering from Oblivion Bowl. The snowboarders were still transitioning, so they said the skiers could ski before them. The skiers had radios, but snowboarders did not, so skiers took phone numbers -knowing that there is cell service at the bottom- and told them that when they were in a safe zone out of the couloir, they would call and tell the snowboarders to go to avoid getting skied on top of. Both parties understood and agreed with the plan, so the skiers proceeded to the top of the Grandfather. The ski down consisted of mostly soft, wintery snow. The areas in the sun had not yet warmed up, and were still very firm. The two skiers got to the mandatory rappel and went one at a time, skier 1 rappelled down while skier 2 stayed at the anchor at the top of the rappel. When skier 1 was nearing the end of the rappel, about 5-10 feet from end of rope, skier 2 notified skier 1 of avalanche by yelling. Skier 2 held on to rope and managed to not get taken down with the avalanche. Skier 1 held onto rope for as long as possible, but was then taken down by the avalanche. When the slide stopped, skier 1 was on top of the debris, unburied. When skier 1 realized he/she was okay, they took out beacon to switch to search mode when skier 2 skied out of the couloir uninjured. Both skiers made it to a safe zone.