Public Observation

Observation Details

Triggered Avalanches

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

We skied the NE couloir off of Sugarloaf yesterday. On the ascent, at around 7800 feet on a N-NE aspect we noted new snow on top of a melt freeze crust. The new snow was around 1” deep, and propagated in an isolated track test, but we felt that this instability was shallow enough to manage. The couloir had around a foot of soft snow and sloughed, but the snow wasn’t cohesive and was quite dry. Upon exiting the couloir on the descent, the first member of our party triggered a soft slab below his skis around 3-5 inches deep, and 50 feet wide. He was not caught. Other 3 group members witnessed this and skied conservatively down to the safe zone where our 1st skier was located. 2 other smaller slabs released as well, similar in depth. We chose to ski the slough path one at a time until we were out of the hazard. The spot where we triggered the slab was protected from the sun and we did not expect that buried melt freeze crust to be located there, as we ascended a different route than we skied. We suspect some wind loading may have contributed to the inconsistent snow depth there.