Front Range
AvalancheAnonymous · Dec 15, 2017 · Front Range
Weather
No Sky Cover Calm Wind No Precipitation North to East aspect 11700' 8:30 AM
Snowpack
Wind Effected Crust with three inches of snow from the 12/13 Storm. Sitting on top of the snow from the 12/7 storm. The 12/7 snow has formed a hard slab.
Avalanche
The avalanche was skier triggered when a skier skied over a wind lip. The whole cornice/wind slab failed. It appeared that it started to break on a north facing part of the cornice and then propagated onto an east aspect. The skier was never caught as the slab did not propagate back to him. The cornice moved the 12/13 snow and slid on top of a hard slab. Based on the rest of the snow pack it appeared that the cornice/wind slab is what triggered the 12/7 snow. The crown was around 3 inches tall and 100 feet wide. We human factored ourselves. The scarcity of the snow made us both disregard the obvious warning signs of the forecast, the cornice, the wind slab, and the slope angle.