This artillery triggered avalanche might support the theory that
our weak snowpack will fail with a larger trigger. It definately
shows that the weak layer of faceted October snow on the ground
is our main concern. The question remains, “Is a human-triggered
avalanche possible today (12/5/08)” And the answer remains, “It
depends.” This avalanche above the railroad tracks and highway
proves that those weak layers are reactive to the right kind of
trigger. I think it is interesting that it did not propogate
across the entire bowl, but it is important to look at how the
crown face tapers from shallow to deep on the slab on the lookers
left. Those rocks where the crown face is shallow looks like the
type of area that a skier/snowmachiner/snowboarder could trigger
a slab like this.