Skier triggered Avalanche in Chute 5 at Tumbling NE5
Quick reportMoneypenny_MakesMINS · Mar 1, 2024 · Kootenay
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy
- Ride Type
- steepSlopes, denseTrees, convexSlopes
- Riding Quality
- amazing
- Snow Conditions
- deepPowder
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSound
Touchy overloaded snowpack in many spots.
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 800
- Slab Width
- 50
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Wind Exposure
- leeSlope
- Avalanche Size
- 3
- Slab Thickness
- 100
- Trigger Sub Type
- accidental
- Start Zone Aspect
- SW
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Avalanche Character
- deepPersistentSlab
- Number Of Avalanches
- 1
- Avalanche Observation
- 12hrsAgo
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- tln
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2024-03-01T19:00:00.000Z
Skier on left entrance of chute 5 got a settlement in storm slab to propagate to steeper startzone that ran off ground. Buried solar and rain crusts likely triggers in conjunction with storm snow and deep persistent weakness
Incident
- Terrain Trap
- gullyDepression, trees
- Group Activity
- skiing
- Snow Depth Trigger Point
- variable
- Terrain Shape Trigger Point
- unsupported
Group of 3 on second lap. Skier 1 rolled into hourglass feature with good momentum and commitment to the line with no issues. Followed too soon by skier 2 just slightly left hit a shallow spot and got settlement that propagated wall to wall. Shallow lower angle trigger point did not move but steeper startzone nearby ripped to ground, 1m plus crown. Very large volume slid on icy ground quickly with immense force and barelled down to impact skier 1 still skiing in the feature and took them off their feet and was ragged dolled for 150m into 6ft high trees on side of main slide path where they were able to grab tree and self arrest. Lost skis and poles, found one ski nearby. No trauma injuries. Very obvious outcome in hindsight. Many indications were overshadowed by great skiing earlier in the day. Poor judgement was responsible.