Our party spent the afternoon in Days Fork via BCC. The sky was obscured and snow was s-1. winds were generally calm but gusting to moderate on the top of the Reed and Benson Ridge. We skinned up chicken shit ridge and observed 30 inches of new snow sitting atop a variety of bed surfaces, including a sun crust which I felt on a more solar tilt.

The snow was fairly dense - creamy powder and quite cohesive. We skied skiers right of the ridge into some of the lower angle (but still avalanche terrain) in the area. The first two riders skied over a micro feature lower down (600 feet below the ridge) where a cliff band and clumps of trees rolled away into 38-40 degree terrain. This feature fractured, propagated, and avalanched. It was a short path and the skier that triggered it easily skied away from the avalanche.

We were not surprised to pop this piece considering the setup we found, and the hazard rating of the day. But, it was a wind/storm slab, comprised of the entire storm snow sitting atop a crust that easily failed and slid. In bigger terrain it could have been very ugly.

On our second lap we once again gained the ridge, with an idea to ski the run Days Draw. As we poked into that aspect, we easily had shooting cracks and I cut a hasty block out of the snow which was very reactive and more cohesive than the snow we had seen anywhere else. We decided to ski our skin track for a few hundred feet before entering the slide path.

Take away for me is that avalanches happen in avalanche terrain even if it seems or is perceived as mellow. This slide was less severe perhaps because of our terrain selection, as we did not expose ourselves to more a consequential zone. But, it was a good reminder to check steep rollovers and to recognize and apply signs we see in the field like dense or upside-down snow, and wind loading.