Pauls Ridge - Remote Triggered Avalanche

Activity

Skiing

Total in the group?

6

People fully buried?

1

People partly buried with normal breathing?

2

People involved?

3

Terrain shape at trigger point

Convex

Terrain traps

• Gully or depression

We were skiing the north side of Pauls Ridge (East End) when we witnessed a remote-triggered avalanche in a gully that partially buried 2 and fully buried 1. Hoping the buried party submits a MIN as our perspective was from above the incident so we don't have images or info on release point(s)

A group of 6 skied down one of the gullies on the north side, where we intended to ski as it looked like a well-supported slope with a terrain trap at the bottom that you wouldn't want to linger in. Lots of tracks down this slope, maybe 10-12 people had skied it before us from 12pm onwards. This was a sheltered area from the wind.

We noticed the group ahead of us stopped in the terrain trap at the bottom, not moving out. We were aware we could trigger something on top of them so we remained in place at the top of the gully on the skin track.

While we waited for the group to clear, a group of 3 snowboarders approached the gully from skiers right. From our vantage, it looked like the riders were unaware anyone was at the bottom of the gully. One rider dropped in on a steeper line through the trees on the right, rolling over a small convex knoll when we heard and felt a significant whoomph under our feet followed by an avalanche at the bottom of the gully. The snowboarder was approx 20m above the group and was not caught in the slide.

Another witness at the bottom from another party mentioned they thought it was likely the group of 6 remote triggered the terrain trap. A lot was going on and it's hard to tell what the trigger was, however, we all believe it was a remote trigger.

We didn't feel it was safe to ski the gully down to them for fear of triggering a second avalanche on top of them, us getting caught in it, or someone above us triggering a second one as we descended. The group appeared to be digging out gear but nothing more, no beacon searches or additional help appeared required from the snowboarders that dropped in so we felt it safest to ski the skin track back out.

We met up with the buried group in the parking lot and they mentioned the gully slid on both sides, so we think the remote trigger rimmed fully around the top of the gully in a horseshoe shape triggering not just what was below but also on the other side (approx 75m?).

Hoping a few others submit a MIN with some other perspectives

My partner took a photo from above, I'll grab that and add it to the report when I get it