Started at the white pine trailhead bright and early at 4:20 a.m. We evaluated the snow on the way up the north side of Red Baldy. Felt fine for the most part, some very minor slabbing on the top surface at the upper ridgeline. Winds up top had started to come by the time we summited, but were still blowing 10g25 W. One of the party had skied steeper South faces the evening before in upper lcc and noted surprisingly good stability, especially right after fresh snowfall and wind, so we were quite surprised by the outcome on this tour.

One of us dropped in with an intentional ski cut, to the right, didn't get anything to move, but did not wait and immediately made another ski turn to the left. About 1 to 2 seconds after initiating the left turn, the slab broke. Luckily they were within a couple feet of the edge and were able to cut above it. We were expecting some wind pockets here and there perhaps, but nothing of this width.

We skied down over the bed surface of the debris which was still relatively soft and then stuck to the center of the line as that had previously slid and then gotten covered by another layer of fresh snow. Definitely was tempting to slash the deeper powder on the sidewalls, but we were spooked enough and didn't want to risk triggering anything else. There was a lot more wind loading in there then we expected based on experiences from the afternoon prior.

Phenomenal skiing despite the slide, however, I won't be trusting any steep South aspects away from the usual bombed highway lines, like I normally do. Seems like there's a crust/surface facet interface that we don't typically have and which is already being reported. We should have been more vigilant here on this tour.