Panorama Ridge Slide

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder

We rode:

• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes

The day was:

• Sunny

Avalanche conditions

• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Hopefully one of the involved parties will also report with more details, but I know I'm guilty of thinking of Panorama Ridge as a relatively safe destination and wanted to share to let others know it too can slide.

There were two parties of two above of us as we headed up the ridge and there were already tacks in the slopes in the storm snow. We stopped and what we believed was a conservative location as we felt the snow was started to change at that point. Where we were there was ~30cm of storm snow on top of a crust. Lower down the snowpack had felt more consistent with less of a layer a foot down. I skied first and got to a point where I was just above the skiers left most edge of the fracture line and it took me a minute to recognize what it was as it looked like someone had dug a pit in the middle of the slope. Then recognizing it for what it was, and seeing a group (not appearing to be panicked) in the slide debris including one member who appeared to have deployed his airbag, we moved our group safely off to the side and communicated with the involved party(s) to ensure there was no one buried and that they didn't require our assistance. Beyond that I'm hoping that one of the involved parties will provide more details.

Play safe and don't underestimate your terrain.