Attempting to ski the Hellmouth The snowpack appeared very stable on most aspects, however when dropping into the northwest face of Alex Lowe peak up and lookers left from the couloir the snowpack was extremely wind scoured. There was maybe 6 inches of un compacted facets below two inches of wind slab. Slightly farther down slope the snow became deep enough for me to put in several jump turns on ski belay. After coming off belay I skied forward maybe 5 feet and broke off a wind slab around 20 feet wide and five feet below me. Shifting my weight right after that the snow below me also broke and slid away. After that I booted back to the ridge and we safely descended the south east face.
Alex Lowe Peak
Northern Gallatin
Code
SS-ASu-R1-D1
Aspect
NW
Latitude
45.42720
Longitude
-111.01400
Notes
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Soft slab avalanche
Trigger
Skier
Trigger Modifier
u-An unintentional release
R size
1
D size
1
Problem Type
Wind-Drifted Snow
Slab Thickness
6.0 inches
Vertical Fall
20ft
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
inches
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year