Managing Moderate @ Griz Couloir

Activity

Skiing

Total in the group?

4

People fully buried?

0

People partly buried with impaired breathing?

0

People partly buried with normal breathing?

1

People not injured (caught but not buried)?

2

People injured (caught but not buried)?

0

People involved?

3

Terrain shape at trigger point

Concave

Snow depth at trigger point

Shallow

Terrain traps

• No obvious terrain trap

1st skier cut top of couloir w/light to mod sluffing, skied line and waited in "safe spot" on skiers left at the bottom of the couloir under the cliffs. 2nd and 3rd skier skied the line and regrouped with skier 1 at "safe spot" one at a time via radio comms.

4th skier triggered the avalanche on 1st turn, managed to stay above crown, quickly radioed to skiers 1,2 and 3 to get out of the way. The avalanche had enough energy to push out and over the cliffs on the skiers left.

Skier one got hit quite hard, went rag dolling in the debris for 40m+, managed to pull his air bag, was partially buried and self rescued by the time the powder cloud settled - recovered poles, lost goggles, no injuries. Skier 2 managed to ski left and out of the way a few meters to avoid being hit. Skier 3 got hit quite hard with debris but managed to stay on feet and get mostly out of the way - headache and sore neck (wear a helmet).

Noted: this may not be the safest regroup - probably head deep skiers right next time. Will be re-evaluating safe spots more diligently in the future. Radios are awesome.

Stay safe out there x