Small, thin wind slabs triggered, Storm Castle Ridge

Moose Jaw
Northern Gallatin
Code
SS-ASu-R1-D1-S
Latitude
45.44940
Longitude
-111.07600
Notes

Today we toured up Storm Castle Ridge with hopes of skiing the 19th Street Couloir. On the approach we were able to trigger small (2-4") wind slabs on most lee aspects, these slides ran fast and far for their size. We dug a pit at 9200' on a North aspect and we're able to identify the surface hoar but had no results on our ECT.  With 2 spotters I dug an ECT 10m below the top of the 19th Street Couloir and got and ECTP12@ 35cm below the surface. The slab was 35cm thick, pencil hardness and failed on faceted snow; the buried surface hoar found in most other pits was not present. We bailed to the opposite side of the ridge and enjoyed some wonderful burn skiing. 

 

Number of slides
1
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Soft slab avalanche
Trigger
Skier
Trigger Modifier
u-An unintentional release
R size
1
D size
1
Bed Surface
S - Avalanche released within new snow
Problem Type
Wind-Drifted Snow
Slab Thickness
3.0 inches
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
inches
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year