Avalanche: Turnagain

Skiing down to the top of the tree line. Stopped on the side of a steeper feature to quickly evaluate terrain before heading down. Considered for a second to go or not as it was steeper there and in a clear open area but complacency kicked in and I ignored the visual signs of a fresh wind slab. As I committed to my first turn, felt movement underneath and heard my partner calling my name. I immediately realized I got caught and anchored myself using the edge of the ski on the bed surface and stopped moving down. Snow washed around my right arm and shoulder for 2-3 seconds as I leaned in the slope while the slide continued beneath me for another 250ft before stopping. It was not deep enough to buried neither heavy enough to make me loose balance luckily.

We had done one lap below the tree line by that point in the day and had already skied close to the area that slid. Neither me or my partner had noticed any instability. Except for some localized sections of wind affected snow it was great riding conditions. As I stopped to evaluate terrain I should’ve slowed down the decision making to integrate what I knew from recent obs and the avy forecast with my observations in the moment before committing to the first turn.