Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Skied one run one the South Face of Microdot, one run on the North Face of Microdot, and attempted to ski the west face above Gold Cord Lake. No obvious signs of instability seen. Recent storm slab avalanche releases on almost all North aspects in Hatcher Pass. North Face of Microdot (AKA Nosebleed) had amazing boot top powder and showed no signs of instability. The West Face run I went up to ski had very similar snow quality and I found no obvious signs of instability on the skin up. As I reached the ridge the snow became much more punchy; potentially having wind affected snow near the summit. As I was on the ridge I heard a large whumpf and the avalanche started only a foot in front of me and propagated nearly across the entire west face above the lake. I was able to stay on top of the debris and take the slide into the bench that sits above the lake. It appeared the avalanche stepped down into the persistent slab that was forecasted.