Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

The first two skiers skied one at a time down slope and traversed lookers right to a safe zone . The third skier skied a similar line and approximately 1/3 to 1/2 way down slope triggered a slab. The party reported not hearing any whumping, cracking or collapsing throughout the day. The slab broke and propagated way above the skier. The skier who triggered the avalanche was miraculously able to to ski off the slab. The crown was significantly shallower at the crown and left flank and stepped down into a deeper persistent slab on leeward facing gully sidewalls. The debris ran the entire path, filled the gully, and ran up the other side approximately 50ft.

1 person was initially caught but skied off the slab and was not carried.

A party on Microdot called on the community radio frequency, 420 (C) to say they observed new debris in the valley of Sin . Our party on $1000 heard the report and was able to send two people rapidly up Hatch to look over into the Valley of Sin to confirm that indeed 3 tracks were seen going into the avalanche and coming out the other side, as well as spoting 3 people at the bottom of the run. While we were investigating the incident we called another forecaster who we thought to be heli-ski guiding in the area and asked for a fly by. Turns out the heli was headed home and within minutes had eyes on the scene, ready to rescue if needed. It was a scary moderate kind of day and the party was very lucky.