A skier triggered an avalanche near Elephant’s Back off Carson Pass near Lake Tahoe, CA today.
Sierra Avalanche Center Report:
First skier descended slope without incident (ski track mostly covered by debris, but visible in middle left of photo). Second skier did a hard ski cut really pushing with his legs and triggered the avalanche (skier visible at crown in photo). The debris ran over our skin track. We did go one at a time though that area but it seemed solid. We were heading to the looker’s left area shot Eback, but did not like the layers and dropped over to this area, I did a hasty pit and it seemed okay, clearly it was not. – SAC
AVALANCHE DETAILS:
Avalanche Type: Dry Slab
Crown Height: Less than 1 ft
Aspect: East
Weak Layer: Storm Snow
Avalanche Width: 120ft.
Terrain: Near Treeline
Elevation: 9 200ft.
Bed Surface: Storm Snow
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the crown is just under a rock zone. it is my understanding that that is a trigger point in some instances; it has released like that in this region before. any comment on weakness near rocky outcroppings? the information is useful.
R and D scale?
^ it means that the avalanche failed within the new snow, rather than on an interface of new and old snow. The windslab failed at a density change and ran on top of a lower density layer within the new (recently deposited) snow.
Probably that the slide ran on a layer of recently-deposited snow, perhaps the same as the weak layer reported a few entries above.
what does “bed surface: storm snow” mean?