Flower couloir

Activity

Skiing

Total in the group?

2

People fully buried?

0

People partly buried with impaired breathing?

0

People partly buried with normal breathing?

0

People not injured (caught but not buried)?

2

People injured (caught but not buried)?

0

People involved?

2

Terrain shape at trigger point

Planar

Snow depth at trigger point

Deep

Terrain traps

• Gully or depression

We made our way to flower couloir and noted some wind loading well below the couloir. As we got closer to the couloir there was minimal wind loading. We started boot packing and for the most part found good supportive snow (10-15 cm of soft on top of firmer snow). We reached a point where the snow changed and became more slab like. At this point we decided to ski down. We cleared the top layer of sluff and had a good run down.

We discussed the level of risk in going back up and felt good as we had cleared the snow from our stopping point and below. We thought there was minimal risk as we had cleared a lot of the hazard. We did not accurately assess the overhead risk though as on our second climb we did trigger a slab 5-10 meters above where we were climbing. We both traveled partway down the couloir with no burials or injuries. It was a good lesson in overhead hazard, ll and triggering a larger section of slab.