Submitted by: Kerry
| Location: | near Taos NM |
| Date: | Apr 18, 2010 | Temp (C): | |
| Wind Speed: | Wind Direction: |
At 2:30 pm three skiers descended a SE aspect from Lake Fork Peak. Skier #1 had noted to others that the hillside was somewhat unstable due to lack of deep overnight freeze and high solar gain under partly cloudy skies. Half-way down slope, skier #1 squeezed a handfull of surface snow and found the corn snow to be moist, but not wet, and recommended others use big GS-style turns. As skier #1 stopped below first major pitch, he shouted to Skier #2 to avoid the large rocks. Approxiately 10-seconds later, Skier #2 triggered a R1D1+, loose wet point release slide that carried Skier #2 about half of the roughly 200' slide path. Skier #2 was partially buried upright to his chest in a somewhat forward bent-over position. The first 50' of slide path slid to the ground leaving a 3' crown. Skier #2 self extricated himself just before Skier #3 came to help. No injuries or equipment damage. Pictures are from Skier #1's perspective just after Skier #2 (lower person) uprighted himself on top of the snow.
The skiers had noted in the morning while climbing the middle, east rib of Lake Fork Peak that the E though S aspects would have instabilities due to a light overnight freeze and high solar gain, and focused their skiing on N aspects, which remained throughout the day cold and firm with about 4cm of fresh moist snow on top of melt-freeze crust. The choice was made to ski the SE aspect to get from Lake Fork Peak to Sin Nombre for the third climb and ski of the day, after noting the low chances of significant burial or injury if caught in a slide on this particular slope.
Skiers travelling the back country should note that the snow pack is tending toward isothermic in isolated areas, particularly near large alpine rocks with greater aspect toward the sun, and near and below treeline. Although this slide was small, if it occurred in the trees, the chance of significant injury would have been high due to the weight & force of wet snow. There is still plenty of snow and good skiing. You can still find dry snow on some protected alpine N aspects. Go early and watch how fast the snow pack warms on different aspects at different rates.
<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/115911657131814537881/LakeFkPkSlide?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qdhaVpvQ2Ew/S8xny6ZXdUE/AAAAAAAAALI/GRYTeA1aKzU/s160-c/LakeFkPkSlide.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/115911657131814537881/LakeFkPkSlide?feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">Lake Fk Pk slide</a></td></tr></table>
http://picasaweb.google.com/115911657131814537881/LakeFkPkSlide?feat=directlink
