Blackcomb Resort Avy

Activity

Skiing

Total in the group?

3

People partly buried with normal breathing?

1

People involved?

1

Terrain shape at trigger point

Unsupported

Snow depth at trigger point

Shallow

Terrain traps

• Cliff

On Sunday during the big storm in Whistler, I was skiing with two buddies on Blackcomb. The skiing was unreal, and we had some waist deep turns in Cougar Chutes (a steep section that feeds into jersey cream). On our second lap of Cougar Chutes at the end of the day, I was traversing over to my line unknowing of my buddy on the cliffs above me, and he set off a size 1.5-2 on me. I was fully buried for a bit and luckily my torso was out of the snow when it settled. I was uninjured, just a little spooked. Goes to show that in a resort that big, ski patrol can’t always make sure every little pocket of the resort is safe. Lessons were definitely learned.

The avalanche had a 20-25m wide crown, was about 20-60cm deep, and ran for roughly 100m based on a google earth measurement I did. These may be a bit off because I wasn’t too focused on the avy’s quantitative size at the time, but regardless, it could have been enough to fully bury me and potentially kill me.