Caution Dec 24 Persistent Weak Layer

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)?

0

People injured (caught but not buried)?

0

People involved?

1

Terrain shape at trigger point

Planar

Snow depth at trigger point

Average

Terrain traps

• No obvious terrain trap

Second rider on slope got caught and went for a 50m ride. Pulled air bag. Size 1.5 slide stopping before trees.. Debris 0.75m to 1.25m. With a 8 - 10m wide crown, 25cm deep. East to SE aspect at 2200m. We have not seen it propagate further into the connecting slopes. This layer has been cracking from 1800m to 2300m over the last few days. It is an isolated problem on all aspects on the Dec 24th melt freeze crust and is most reactive at the top of the Rain layer which is super variable.. It does however pop and drop on open slopes over 35 degrees when anchors are not present. We are worried about steep Lee slopes where the wind could be loading/ adding significant amount of snow over this layer. We have been experiencing shooting cracks on steep terrain over last 2.5 days however been un able to make this layer react with any pocket bigger then 2m x 2m up until this stage.. We have been sending our stronger skiers first to flush out this layer. Our good buddy Dwreck went for a bit of a ride and pulled his air bag as a precaution which was a very smart move on his part.