CAIC

Details

Date: 2019/04/11

Observer: Aaron Carlson
Organization: Executive Director, Friends of CAIC

Location

BC Zone: Vail & Summit County
Area Description: Peak 1
Route Description: Standard route to the summit

Weather

Weather Description: Cloudy. Warm when the sun came out. Sustained winds WNW 20mph with gusts in the 40's.

Snowpack

Snowpack Description: 6" of new snow below treeline. 8"-10" above TL on the SE ridge. New snow started forming slabs above treeline but more obvious, denser slabs about 12,100' in elevation.

Avalanches

Avalanche Description: We triggered two avalanches.

Slide #1.
As we approached the summit of Peak 1 we discussed our options to get to the ridge safely and bypassing a large cornice. Our options were to move to the N and gain the ridge by traversing the N face or to head to the S and skin/boot pack between two large cornice features. We chose to head S and skin to the open area between the two cornices. The slide was triggered by skier 1 after one switchback. It caught skier one and moved him down hill. The slide also pushed skier 2 onto his stomach, head downhill and buried most of his body up to his waist. Skier 3 was able to grab skier 2 by the arm as he slid by and bury his body into the bed surface and not move. the debris settled at knee height of skier 3. This avalanche was skier triggered, moved downhill apx. 35-50' and propagated out of sight of all members of the party.

After avalanche #1 we decided to boot pack the bed surface and get to the summit ridge to have a look into our objective. The winds on the summit at this point were sustained 30mph with gusts of 40+mph. It was a fairly miserable experience.

We moved down our N facing line on hard wind scoured snow in hopes the wind would die down and the snow would get better as we descended the terrain.

Slide #2.
Skier 1 traversed down over hard snow avoiding a cliff band. The terrain below was very rocky and the snow seemed thin. Skier 2 was moving on hard snow above skier 1. Skier 3 was stationary watching the movements of skiers 1 and 2. Skier 1 triggered a very small wind slab which knocked him off his feet and dragged him 200 vertical feet through very rugged terrain. We estimate the crown was between 2" and 5" deep. Skier 2 had visual contact of skier 1 upon his self arrest. Skier 3 moved down to skier 2 and was able to get a physical signal from skier 1 that all was "OK". Skiers 2 and 3 moved downhill diligently to skier 1.

After an assessment of skier 1's injuries it seemed that the best option was to keep moving downhill. Skier 3 took the lead ski cutting the terrain to avoid additional wind slab issues.

We encountered wind slabs and were able to trigger them as we moved from above treeline through the entire 3,000' line we were intending to ski.

In the end skier 1 one suffered minor injuries and damaged clothing and skis.

Date

Location/Path

Elev

Asp

Type

Trig

SizeR

SizeD

2019/04/11 ^†

>TL

2019/04/11 ^†

>TL

D1.5

Media

Images

<b>Figure 1:</b> Slide 1 (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/q3ppwukvwhmx5b3zz3egcm41m2zg?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=185800cbdd8eeed82ccfcebdab2b15c5','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)

<b>Figure 2:</b> Debris from slide 1 (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/h7gqkoajpi1h1lvpgubx7mpf2nxm?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=669c9346198702615dc301e383a96e65','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)

<b>Figure 3:</b> Debris from slide 1 (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/ubv0omtky1usmyp7mzavhlw8o71k?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=5f2aa951d5288f15deff01e9300801cb','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)

<b>Figure 4:</b> Looking up the slide path #2 skier 1 was slid down. Skier 3 is slide stepping down to skier 1 in this photo. The slide was triggered above skier 3's location. (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/97s63b4lg2xexp6fxr19jo463e0x?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=4f457b61a26057478d2b8ef6e671c916','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)