Observation: Public

Observation Details

Observed Avalanches

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

We were returning from a day of skiing north of chair peak where we had been navigating warmer than anticipated weather and trying to ski accordingly. After a longer day we found ourselves among a few other groups returning from the snow lake divide. Admittedly we were complacent as we felt we had avoided the heat of the day and had an easy route home (lesson learned). We saw a few groups depart while we transitioned and followed a few minutes after. Right before we traversed across the ski down at source lake our group and one other group skiing near us saw a waterfall of snow flowing over the cliffs. Initially we thought it was not that large but quickly saw it entrain wet snow and grow in size. We also realized that other groups might be down there and started yelling. After it stopped moving we did a quick beacon search across the debris and checked in with two groups at source lake, luckily no one was buried. A few lessons learned from us that hopefully others can learn from:
- don’t get complacent when clouds come and the heat of the day is over
- don’t get complacent with terrain you know well
- communicate and plan with other groups when in avalanche terrain
- think about the terrain above you, are cornices still getting sun? Could other groups trigger an avalanche above you, etc