| Trigger | Snowmachiner | Remote Trigger | Unknown |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | West Southwest |
| Elevation | 1500ft | Slope Angle | 35deg |
| Crown Depth | 2ft | Width | 250ft |
| Vertical Run | 800ft |
Avalanche: Other Regions
Location: Burns Glacier
Normal “waterfall” uptrack from Whittier, across Whittier glacier to Burns Glacier. Winds were gusting in the 50mph range tons of snow transport, we didn’t stay long as conditions were pretty miserable. Many small to large windslabs forming and very reactive.
Avalanche Details
Another group behind us triggered a large wind slab. I had looked at the slope on the way in and made a mental note of how loaded it looked. We had turned around before dropping into the Blackstone glacier area because of deteriorating conditions of high winds and blowing snow. I noticed the large fresh avalanche on the way back, it had multiple snowmachine tracks underneath the toe of the debris pile, including our groups tracks below the slope up the glacier and one defined set of the person who climbed/triggered it. A quick beacon search and communication with another group verified nobody had been caught.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observer Comments
Wind slabs easily triggered on small terrain features. Incredible amount of wind transport happening.
Weather
Sustained 40mph wind with higher gusts temps in the mid 20's. Mosty sunny
Snow surface
New snow wind affected but still soft.
Snowpack
No formal pits were dug, stability tests on isolated small features and the rapid snow transport told us what we needed to know.