Observation: Public

Observation Details

Triggered Avalanches

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

We reached Bluebell at 7am in the dark and spent time on the summit to wait for more light to traverse over the Crown. I stopped in 6 separate spots on the ridge to test stability with many hasty pits with no results. Still suspect of pockets of wind load we found a small cornice bulb (6 feet wide and approximately 200+lbs) on top of the line we wanted to ski. With 3 hard kicks it broke, rolled for 150m and then stopped. We agreed I would ski first and drop in 5m right of where we kicked the cornice, wary that the left side could still be considerable given its aspect slight turns to the SE. 5 turns into it, I'm slowing being over taken what I assume is dry slough, but it's quickly evident that its an avalanche. Fortunately I was able to stay balanced and slowly move away from the flow. Within a few seconds and around 60m it stops and I'm able turn uphill and yell to my partner to not ski yet until I get down to the safe transition zone. To my surprise, he's not on the ridge anymore, but standing on the top of the debris and bed surface 35m skiers left of where the intended line was. This slide was a result of shared poor communication: I wasn't sternly adamant with my partner about skiing the slope one at a time and wait for me to stop at the safe transition zone 250m below and right, falsely assuming he understood this. The few seconds that he dropped in after me, skiing approximately 10m left of my line put him in the part of the glade that the aspect turns slightly SE, and a bit steeper 42 degrees than the 34 degrees that the majority of the face is angled at. After taking some photos, explaining our exit plan out and up the SE Ridge, we went back to the starting zone to assess, talk about our mistakes. Fortunately neither of us buried, no injuries, no lost gear but a super valuable reminder that this could have been been avoided with super clear communication with skiing protocol.