North of Kaslo Slide

Activity

Skiing

Total in the group?

3

People fully buried?

0

People partly buried with normal breathing?

0

People not injured (caught but not buried)?

0

People injured (caught but not buried)?

1

People involved?

1

Terrain shape at trigger point

Planar

Snow depth at trigger point

Average

Terrain traps

• Slope transition or bench

The short, steep slope just down from the switchback above the first bridge on the Lost Ledge Road slid today at about 3pm. in the afternoon. It was a 1-1 and a 1/2 ft. slab that released, with a very smooth, solid crust below.

I think I suggested that we go one at a time down the little slope to the second bridge. However, I ended up just ahead of my friend B, with C just behind him. I did a couple turns then felt the back of my skiis sliding and zipped straight across to the road that descends to the bridge. I could hear B, behind me, exclaiming oh,oh,oh, and he got caught and pushed over a hump onto his side, his skiis released and poles flew as he back stroked to keep afloat. Some snow flew over top of him but he landed buried to his knees with one ski and pole disappeared. C stopped on the slope up above and behind B, but was stuck there after the substantial slide took off close to the road edge above. After I saw B, I watched C from below as he skiied across the icy sheet beneath the crack and onto to my escape tracks. It's quite a pile of snow that accumulated down towards the river. It cracked right from the top by the road. All fine. We found the other ski after probing for a bit below B's landing site. One pole lost but all people fine.

I believe that crust a foot down might be a concern up high (6800 ft.) when the weather up top gets as warm as it has been at the second bridge (4500 ft.). Also depends what happens next. We experienced that crust below the higher slopes and though the top layer wasn't moving very much at all it would get exposed in a turn or sometimes when skinning up, not often and not concerning at that point.

Watch the temperature cahnges and snow load.