09-10

From an email: "Today while skiing the backcountry off of Lone Mountain, I kicked off two slides on the same slope, facing due north. The first slide I kicked off with a ski cut of the top of a chute (unskied this year), the slough and soft wind slab fractured about 10" - 12"  in depth and then stepped down to take all layers to the ground with it. The slide ran full course (top to bottom) about 1200'. At the bottom of the chute I again ski cut another wind slab (in an adjacent pocket)which broke about 14" in depth and ran a couple hundred feet.

A solo skier entered the shaded, northeast facing slope (arrow) and triggered the slide (circle).  It failed 2-4" deep on a layer of facets that formed at the surface before the last storm.  Even a thin slab measuring a few inches thick can propagate a fracture.  The slope was at 7500' in the northern Bridger Range north of Ross Pass.  It broke 50-75 feet wide and ran approx. 300' downhill.  Photo: Anonymous

A solo skier was caught, but not buried or injured in this small slide.  His gear was strewn in the debris.  From his email: "I started to slide, fell forward, ski was ripped off of foot as well as poles from hands. I slid probably 30-50 feet before stopping on the flank. Pile kept going. Picked my self up and was able to poke around for poles and ski down slope."  Photo: Anonymous

The slide was on a northeast aspect off the shaded, small shoulder.  A solo skier triggered it. His skin track is clearly visible. Photo: Anonymous

2-3 inches of new snow along with strong S-SW winds have loaded many leeward slopes making human triggered avalanches possible.  With more snow and wind on the way we can expect the probability of human tirggered avalanches to increase.  Photo: Beau Fredland