| Trigger | Skier | Remote Trigger | No |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | South Southwest |
| Elevation | 1900ft | Slope Angle | 38deg |
| Crown Depth | 16in | Width | 60ft |
| Vertical Run | 100ft |
Avalanche: Girdwood
Location: Crow Creek
Lunch ski with 3 goals: look at old surface hoar, see if wind was making the turn into Crow Pass, and get a couple mellow laps. Found 2 out of 3 (no wind).
Avalanche Details
Toured up on S aspect digging hand pits above 1500ft, looking for BSH sheltered between alders. Around 1800 ft noticed a small shooting crack, a little collapsing underfoot. This became more noticeable over next couple kickturns then slab broke underfoot while crossing a convexity. Released across entire pocket between alders.
SS-ASu-R2-D1-O, 40cm down on small facets above a crust, 1880ft, SSW.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | Yes |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Weather
Calm. Snowing S2 then dropping to S-1. Could see a hint of blue in sky as I left before 3p.
Snow surface
About 5cm new snow. Ski pen 25cm (or more).
Snowpack
Did a quick crown profile and column test. CT11 SP 50cm down on BSH above 5cm old ice crusts layer. BSH was of varying sizes, some grains up to 1mm, noticed plenty of rounded edges. Crust layer seemed to be decomposing, crumbly, finger hard. Also noticed but did not get test results on a very thin BSH or facet layer about 20cm down.
Released pocket between alders, about 60ft
Crown profile