Avalanche: Chugach State Park

Skied the usual 4-chute Falls Creek loop.

The first chute had a real pile of debris in apron upon arrival. It had slid from half way up the line mid-storm. Most of the rest of the line slid upon skiing. Interestingly it was the second skier down who triggered it.

Near the top of the ascent of the East Indianhouse chute, the snow whompfed and a crack propagated wall to wall from the bootpack. Interestingly, the slab slid a few inches then stopped (picture of crack is attached). From the top we dropped a small cornice on the cracked slab which triggered a slide across the chute.

West Indianhouse couloir was so deep we had to shovel to break trail up it (wallowing pic attached). Again, it didn’t slide on the way up, but the first skier triggered the storm slab in the 10-15 foot wide line!

Despite multiple ski cuts, the Falls Lake coolie did not slide. Overall, slab avalanches were confined to the new storm snow and were 12 – 18 inches deep and fast running. Sloughs were also high volume and fast. Able to easily ski/skin from 2k ft.