Avalanche: Rodeo Ridge

We observed significant cracking and collapsing on our ascent. We took a lower angled but brushy approach. We skied a couple of slopes below 30 degrees. Rather than climb back up to exit lower angle slopes we mistakenly decided to ski a steeper slope that we had skied several times this season. The first skier skied 6-8 turns to an island of safety and then the second skier joined the first. The third skier came down from above us to skiers left and skied the slope without incident to a lower ridge which is usually safe. The second skier then followed him down. On his third turn the slope fractured 100' above him and began to move. The first skier yelled avalanche and instructed the second skier to go left. At the same time the slope to the right fractured and slid to the ground. Another slope to our left also released and slid about the same time.

The second skier was knocked down and I lost sight of him in a cloud of snow as he was carried downhill. I followed him visually down the slope from where I lost sight of him. I yelled to our other partner that I couldn't see him hoping he had a visual. Then I spotted him a couple of hundred feet below me, on a ledge near the left edge of the debris pile, as the snow stopped moving. He lost both skis and broke both safety straps. He took a beating as he was carried through maple and scrub oak. He was pinned to the ground by dense snow around his pack unable to move until he unbuckled his pack. He stood up and found one ski nearby and I located the other ski above him in some scrub oak.

He described being caught and carried, tumbling in the snow seeing nothing but white until he came to a stop on the surface. He was pummeled by snow and branches as he was carried down the slope. No major injuries occurred but he will be bruised and pulled a hamstring. He thought he was taking his last breath and so did I. It's not a good feeling. We were lucky he was ok and able to ski out. The ridge we skied out was noted to crack more than 20 times on our exit but wasn't steep enough to slide.

What did we do wrong? We didn't pay attention to the obvious and significant cracking and collapsing as we skinned up. This was at the same elevation as the avalanche we triggered. We chose an exit from the mountain that was too steep because we didn't want to hike up to a lower angle exit. We were lulled to sleep by good skiing earlier in the day. We didn't do a proper ski cut before skiing this slope. We didn't fully understand the effects that 4 inches of rain had on the snow pack. We thought the rain would stabilize the snow pack but it completely saturated the snow to the ground making it weaker. We didn't register or heed advice from UAC forecast.

What did we do right? We reviewed the UAC forecast before our tour. We skied one at a time utilizing islands of safety above and below the slope that avalanched. We were equipped with beacons, probes and shovels and knew how to use this gear. We practice with our beacons, probes and shovels. We reported this slide so others can learn from our mistakes. It's embarrassing to admit we screwed up.

In summary we messed up and were very lucky that things didn't turn out worse.