Large sluffs in Flanders

Large sluffs in Flanders

Date
Activity
Ice Climbing

There was about 6" of new snow in Flanders. It snowed on and off all morning and kicked in again around noon. There was no wind. We climbed Killer Pillar (E. facing, ~8600'). In about a 45 minute span we had 5-6 large sluffs barrel over the top of the climb and run a few hundred feet down the gully...a long ways. Luckily we were not climbing the gully or leading because it would have peeled us off. We descended to the north to stay out of the gut. We were in avalanche terrain and had the surface snow sluff far down the hill. It was running so fast and far I had to stop and dig a quick pit to see why. It was near-surface faceting under the snow. I had an ECTN. There was not enough of a slab to propagate a fracture. We made a quick movie which is posted on YouTube.

LS-N-R2-D1...could be R1...no way to know, but by the time they all ran I imagine a lot of the bowl above had released.

I was super psyched that we both had our lighweight shovels and probes and were beeping. You just never know!

Region
Northern Gallatin
Location (from list)
Flanders Creek
Observer Name
Doug Chabot