Vail & Summit County
AvalancheNarendra De · Feb 5, 2022 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Bluebird day. Cold in the morning and warmed up to 20 degrees. Started at 10 am.
Snowpack
~3 inches new snow on a hard layer. What seemed consolidated turned out to be some wind slab.
Avalanche
3 of us skied the NE aspect on Eccles Peak from the 12k ridge. First pitch was approx 30 degrees (max) with 3 inches of new snow on a hard layer which lead us to a flat bench. We followed the bench east to the top of the next pitch at 11,650 which is east facing. I estimate this pitch to be 35-37 degrees, there was no evidence of cracking or movement during the approach. The plan was to ski one at a time. Skier 1 (me) triggered a D1.5 slide on second turn at 1:20pm on this pitch. Slide was Initially in new snow wind slab (we think) and then dropped down to the bed. Crown was 8-12 inches max. Slide carried skier 1 (me) roughly 250 vert where he came to rest on top of debris uninjured. I was able to slow myself down and stay above and on top of the main slide by kicking my skies and poles upward and keeping my body upright. I did not lose my skies or poles. I was in obvious danger but because of my position in the slide, I at no point felt like i was going to be fully buried. Skier 2 and skier 3 were in safe spot on top of this pitch. They immediately skied down mellower terrain on the north east to skier 1 (me) and confirmed no injures. Skier 2 reported the incident to Summit County Sheriff immediately via non emergency number. Summit SAR called back a few minutes later where Skier 2 conveyed the incident details, coordinates, and status of un injured skier 1. Skier 2 also provided images. All 3 skiers skied out via the drainage back to the Meadow creek TH without incident.