Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

We dug a pit at the top of the line. Extended Colum test did not break before 30 strikes. It wasn’t even breaking on a clean plane. The first skier dropped in, few turns into the line a soft slab broke and propagated. (In retrospect this is a great lesson in remembering that pit results don’t give you a reason to ride a line, but are more for giving you a reason to NOT ride a line). Then feeling like the best alternative was to ride down the bed surface of what had already slid I dropped into the line. As I rode through the hang fire I noted that the snow felt like it had warmed up from the sun it felt sticky and heavy, then the snow above the previous crown broke about 6’ above me and 20’ below me. I arrested into the bed surface and the slide went past. The bed surface was surpassingly crusty/icy. I then proceeded to do the falling leaf down the entirety of the run.