Grand Mesa

Avalanche

Anonymous · Feb 1, 2014 · Grand Mesa

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Weather

Clear sunny skies

Snowpack

Fresh snow, too fresh. Possibility of a slide was known. On a NE facing slope, a couple hundred feet of 30-35deg.

Avalanche

Many avalanches in-between trees, crown was approximately 2ft, width varied from 6-20ft and length varied from 10-150ft. Most were slow moving, seemingly easy to trigger but slow to break off and unable to fully bury someone but would be easy to bury a face or carry someone into a terrain trap. Went with 2 other skiers, stayed as much as possible in the dense trees, avoided known terrain traps and used safe skiing principles.