Avalanche: Turnagain

Me and my partners skinned up Tincan this morning. We knew there had been recent high winds and were looking for signs of wind slabs after the storm. At the top of Tincan Common we hadn’t noticed any red flags and skinned/booted towards Tincan Proper. 100 feet from the summit of Tincan Proper we encountered a supportable crust on a steep pitch. I made 2 steps onto the crust and broke through on my third step. I heard a loud whumph and immediately stepped back 2 paces behind a rock pillar. The wind slab (2’ at the crown and 5’ deep at the center of the concavity) slid down the north chute 2000’ to the valley floor. The cornice connected to the wind slab also simultaneously broke and went tumbling down the south gulley. If I had been a few more paces out on the wind slab I likely would have been carried down the north chute 2000’ to the valley floor.