South Molars Avalanche

Submitted by
purdy.logan
Observations date
Saturday, December 31, 2022 at 20:00
Location
51.296640° N 117.105140° W
Reporting on
  • Snow conditions
Map for Mountain Information Network report: South Molars Avalanche

Information

Activity
Skiing

Group details

Total in the group?
2
People fully buried?
0
People partly buried with impaired breathing?
0
People partly buried with normal breathing?
0
People not injured (caught but not buried)?
0
People injured (caught but not buried)?
0
People involved?
0

Terrain details

Terrain shape at trigger point
Concave
Snow depth at trigger point
Deep
Terrain traps
  • No obvious terrain trap

Comments

Skied two laps in the second gully at South Molars, with no noted signs of instability. Traversed over to the third gully for the third lap. Skier 1 entered the slope about 40 m down from the top and made a couple turns, when an avalanche was remote triggered above them from the top of the run. Skier was able to ski out of the slide, and no one else was involved. After exiting the slide, the skier and partner noticed significant shooting cracks in the trees, which were not present on the slope they had previously skied. It seemed the snowpack had changed significantly with just a slight change in aspect/slope. The avalanche was size ~2, with a ~60 cm crown, ~70 m width, and ran full path ~300 m down slope.
Looking down from the location where the skier exited the slide.
Crown of the avalanche. Entry point of the skier was just outside the lower left part of this image.
Looking up from the bottom of the debris field.