We dug several profiles along the crown of the avalanche and found that it was new snow only. The wind had drifted snow onto this slopes, so it was a wind slab. But it broke out much wider and propagated much farther than the typical wind slab, which made us suspicious that there was another kind of weak layer involved.
The slab was 1.5 feet and broke out 300' wide and propagated to 3 different paths.
The slab slid on a thin, sun crust and we could find patches of surface hoar as the weak layer. The surface hoar was very small and very pockety. It probably formed in 1-2 days during the clear period before the storm.
Canyons ski patrollers, Jake Hutchinson and Jeff Lonn looking at the fracture line. The total fracture was about 300' wide and took out three different paths.
Looking down the path from the place where the skier came to a stop. The avalanche traveled much farther.
