Five skiers left the top of Red Mountain Pass, traveling into Senator Beck Basin. Once the group reached the Senator Beck Weather station, visibility was in and out, and the group traveled west toward Trico Peak. Their plan was to descend the northeast side of a low-angle gully feature and then into a southeast gully into the lower Trico basin. The group descended the top of the slope without incident. At around 12,500 feet, the group observed some wind loading and went to assess slab stiffness. Skiers 1 and 2 peeked over the edge of a northeast-facing steep gully feature and noted stiffening. Skiers 3, 4, and 5 were just behind but higher on the ridge. This was not a slope they planned to descend. Skier 1, further down the slope, made a big jump turn. Upon landing, the slab of snow Skiers 1 and 2 were standing on started to move downhill. Skiers 1 and 2 were caught and carried around 10-15 feet downhill before stepping off the moving snow on both sides. The avalanche was smaller in size, but the ride could have been consequential. Skiers 3-5 were not involved in the moving snow. The party regrouped on the ridge and safely descended into the Trico area and back to the top of Red Mountain Pass.

Route Description

We ascended from the top of Red Mountain Pass into Senator Beck basin. At the Sentaor Beck weather station, we traveled west up and over the ridge into the Trico drainage.

Around a foot of snow was measured at pass level throughout this past storm. Winds during the storm were reasonably light but picked up over the past two days after most of the new snow had fallen. The new snow was light and dry on shady slopes, but there was crust on sunny slopes to treeline that likely developed Thursday and Friday during periods of sunny weather. Testing many slopes at all elevations showed minimal signs of instability besides the slope that avalanched. The new snow height ranges from only a few inches on the crust on sunny slopes to 8-14" on shady slopes. Northwest winds in the afternoon increased loading, cross-loading, and stiffening slopes.

Light snow showers were on and off throughout the day. Visibility was limited by cloud cover. Winds were light to moderate but picked up in the afternoon as the storm started to move out of the area.