Went to the PC Ridgeline expecting to see some new activity from the storm, was a bit surprised to see no natural activity. Looked at Scotts peak then decided to look into No Name because we new that was the place with the weakest snow structure, did not note any new activity in the bowl, dropped a few small cornices and only got some shallow new snow sluffs to run. Walked around the corner into the trees and dug a pit, the pit showed only 4 inches of new low density snow sitting on a fragile rain crust, with no slab just loose facets. Went back around the corner to No Name with the intentions of skiing it, noting not much of a new load or any wind effect and new the slope contained basically facets top to bottom with minimal amount or new snow. Brett went in first and noted a little bit if a slab in the very top section but 2 turns in he was in loose facets top to bottom with no slab, he skied the slope without incident. I dropped in next and made what I think was a mistake in judgment, instead of skiing to the skiers right of his tracks which was a bit lower angle, I opted for the steeper roll on skiers left side about 30ft down the slope I saw it fracture about 20ft above me and turned hard right and got off the slab, the slide washed by me and gouged down to the ground running to the transition zone and leaving a nice debris pile at the bottom. Fracture line was 5 to 11" deep. My thinking is that I hit a thin weak spot in the only place on the whole slope with a small slab on it, and the debris pile was so large because it cleaned out all the hang fire from the last slide I triggered in there a couple weeks ago, and cleaned out all the facets to the ground in the whole path except for the top of the starting zone. It was actually some what of a user friendly slide if that is possible. I think I hit the only sweet spot in the whole bowl that you could trigger an avalanche in. The words spacial variability, and pockety come in mind when i think about it. Traveled all the way to Mill D from there with no other activity noted.
FORECASTER COMMENTS: As we started the day, we anticipated a significant danger and had no intentions of skiing No Name. However, it quickly became apparent the storm didn't produce as expected and conditions were less dangerous. We were finding 4 to 5 inches of loose new snow, very little wind effect. We decided the loose new snow sitting on the old loose facets was not a dangerous situation. This was the case. However, we underestimated the amount of new snow that had drifted enough to produce the pocket that Mark triggered. The pocket itself was not all that scary, basically a moderate sized drift. However, what we both noted was the large pile of debris formed from the initial slab gouging into facets and entraining snow as it traveled all the way down the slope. As Mark noted, this situation is not all that likely right now. Most areas just didn't get the load. Mark and I have a good amount of experience and it should be noted that we made an error in judgment here. Ultimately, not a significant event but any avalanche unintentionally triggered while you're on the slope is too many. - Kobernik
Photos:
Crown basically right at the ridge.
Debris and track.
