Anthony

Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Alta Ski Area » Baldy

Baldy

10,700'

North

38°

Snowboarder

Unintentionally Triggered

New Snow

New Snow/Old Snow Interface

16"

300'

1

On our second lap of the day my partner triggered a large soft slab avalanche off the Perlas area of Mt. Baldy. Initial plan was to ride the trees lower on the ridge line but as we made our approach we observed another group descend little chute without incident. Unfortunately this instilled some false confidence and we ascended higher than originally planned. I descended first and traversed above a small rock band to a more open area of the slope. I was able to initiate a few small sluffs as I made the traverse but did not get anything to release. Entry point onto the slope can be seen just above the fracture line on the right side of the avalanche. I descended the slope without incident and waited on the cat track below as my partner descended. About two turns in he triggered the slide. Trigger point appeared to be a small rock patch right below his entry point. Luckily he was able to traverse off the slope and did not get carried. The slide ran full length and came right up to the cat track. A skier ascending the track checked in to make sure we were alright and also was able to get a video of the incident. Alta patrol was notified. Despite the numerous red flags that my partner and I noticed throughout the day we let the beautiful weather and great snow lure us into terrain that we weren't planning on riding when we left the car. Luckily we were both able to walk away unharmed and got a good reminder of how quickly things can go wrong when you ignore the warning signs.