Public Observation

Observation Details

Triggered Avalanches

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

I spent 4 days from jan. 28- jan 31st ski touring in McCully basin. on the 27 and 28th we received a substantial amount of snow and wind. The new snow accumulation was anywhere from 6 inches to 3.5 feet depending on wind transport. We avoided avalanche terrain for the first todays as we were expecting touchy wind slabs. On our third day we were touring in a zone called the diamonds. Part of our group skied a run called diamond 2 which is barely 30 degrees while I dug next to diamond 1. I dug down 165 centimeters looking for the solstice rain crust and the mid january rain crust and any signs of instability. What i found was a pretty "right side up snow pack" as far down as i dug. We decided to ski diamond 1 and the 7th skier down skied off the side of the run into an area where the snowpack was shallow and triggered a persistent slab avalanche. Thankfully he skied off to the side and nobody was caught or injured. It was a very sobering experience. Any of us who had the idea of "it wont happen to me" do not have that idea anymore. We made some mistakes and it could have cost us. The importance of understanding spacial variability was brought home to us in a forceful way. I know for myself im taking a big step back when it comes to terrain selection. Be careful. when skiing in the wallowas and especially the northern wallowas were the snow pack is thinner. As we saw its more than possible to find a shallow trigger point of a persistent slab in this Area