Human-triggered avalanche on Video

Avalanche date/time

Saturday, December 23, 2023 at 09:00

Estimated occurrence time of avalanche

From 12 to 24 hours ago

Number of avalanches in this report

1

The size of avalanche

1.5

Trigger type

Skier

Trigger subtype

Accidental

Start zone aspect

• SE

Start zone elevation band

• Alpine

Start zone elevation

2,400m

Our party witnessed a human-triggered sz 1.5 avalanche starting from a point release at the base of the bootpack on Video, which carried a party of three about 100 m downslope and partially buried all three. The party was uninjured and recovered their gear . They told us the release started in a very shallow area while they were transitioning from skinning to bootpacking . We didn’t see a crown line but had a limited view of the start zone . The affected party had dug two pits on the lower slope of Video before heading higher, and there were no other tracks put in on the newest snow .

We did a compression test at the bottom of Video yielding CTM5 sudden planar down 20 cms of storm snow and CTH1 resistant planar down 50 cm on a 140 cm base. There was a firm wind crust during the ascent above hospital gully which we couldn’t feel anymore on lower aspect of Video , though the SE face had appeared very wind affected on the approach.

Have fun and stay safe folks!