I went up to Twin Lakes today to ski the lower angle NW facing trees. Hiking along the ridge line it was pretty obvious the E facing terrain towards Brighton was heavily wind loaded and ready to slide because the severely faceted snowpack can only take so much. I kicked a small cornice from a safe spot on the ridge and watched it tumble about 20' before the slope ripped out. The initial fracture was approximately 100 yds wide, but quickly propagated on both sides reaching a width of 1/4 mile. The slide appears to have slid on facets on top of a stout wind slab that was 5" thick in most areas with more large-grained facets underneath. In places the slide stepped down taking the old wind slab with it. The depth of the slab ranged from 8" to 40" and very quickly gained speed before stopping in the flats 900' below. Slopes steep enough to slide are VERY touchy right now. All it took was a 50lb chunk of snow tumbling a couple times to trigger a large violent avalanche with very high likely un-survivable consequences if caught. On the trail passing the N facing patsy ridge there was fresh debris crossing the skinner from a slide that broke in an area of steep trees and cliff bands and was around 100' wide. I believe it was triggered either remotely or intentionally by two skiers we saw hiking on the ridge.
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