May 22, 2005
Dunderberg SE Bowl - The House of Cards
Joe, Toby, Gary and Buddy
The Culprit and the Crown (Gary with his wet slide behind him) - 5/22/05.
A Huge Winter does not necessarily lead to a great Spring. The '04/'05 Winter season pounded out big storms all the way into the beginning of May. Although we enjoyed some great April powder days (and even May 10th!), we would later pay for it with a mostly rotten Spring snow pack. The sun and the usual late Spring warmth did not allow the pack to make the usual slow consolidating transition that serves up that delicious corn. Instead the heat melted the surface layers, sending water trickling through a still unconsolidated snow pack all the way to the ground. When the weight of a skier was stressing this saturated pack, especially next to hot sun baked rocks, the slides were inevitable. This was the exact scenario we found on Dunderberg's South East bowl on a toasty Sunday in May.
Gary, Toby and I initially had plans to ski down near Twin Lakes. A high and dry snowline convinced us to seek higher ground, which naturally led us to Virginia Lakes. So our start was a little later than optimum, but we made the top by 10:00 AM and were skiing by 10:30. We each were a bit suspect about the stability, especially after observing a few small slides on slopes with similar aspects on the lower mountain.
Even though it appeared to us that the safest aspect was the gut of the bowl, we followed our natural (and foolish) tendencies to seek out the more exciting lines. These happened to be the East facing rock lined, steeper shots on the skier's right side of the bowl. Gary skied down the ridge to the top of these lines, while Toby and I stayed nearer to the summit.
Gary (lowest), Toby and Buddy line up on the summit ridge preparing to drop into the SE Bowl:
After snapping the above picture, I laid a little ski cut just below Toby. I sunk much deeper than expected into the unconsolidated wet snow, setting off a shallow surface slide that ran for 20' or so. It was enough of a sign to convince all of us to head back towards the left to where the snow in the bowl appeared to be more stable. For Toby and I it was an easy traverse in the opposite direction. After Toby did so, he and Buddy skied a great long corn run down the center of the bowl. But for Gary it would require a hike back up the ridge line, or just a traverse from where he already was to avoid the sketchy steep slopes he was perched above. Gary made the same decision that both Toby and I would have made, and proceeded with a cautious traverse across the suspect slope back to his left. I stayed put to spot his course in case things went wrong. Not surprisingly he made his first turn and set off another small, benign surface sloughing slide. Gary wisely put on the brakes to let the initial creeping snow run it's course. But instead of running 20' and stopping, it stepped down to a deeper crown and picked up more snow and more momentum. It then quickly gained more speed and increased exponentially in width, continuing to send fractures across the slope in it's path until it began to rumble like a frozen lava flow towards a rock band below. I yelled down to Toby, "Slide!", but he was too far below to hear me. But within a few seconds the little slide that could, ripped the snow pack down to the ground and poured over the rock band with the force and sound of a freight train. Toby then looked up, and quickly started stepping up the side hill of the gully he had stopped in. Buddy was still galloping down the bowl, unaware of the river of snow and ice pouring down from above. Fortunately it went to the right of Buddy and Toby, never presenting a real danger to either of them.....but the both were treated to a helluva view! Gary and I stopped in awe (and fear) at having triggered such a massive and powerful force that was perfectly still and balanced just moments before. The slide was easily 100' wide and ran at least 1,000 yards. The crowns varied in size from 6" to 6', and the debris pile at the bottom contained chunks of snow and ice 2' to 3' in size. It was a sobering first hand lesson of the potential power and dangers of these peaks and the snow pack we covet. Here are some pictures to keep us all grounded:
Gary was still left with the task of making the cautious traverse back to the center of the bowl (Notice the crowns and debris behind him):
Ripped out down to the Ground!
Gary and I then carefully skied the bowl one at a time down to Toby and Buddy. The snow was much more consolidated in the bowl, and we actually enjoyed those sweet corn turns next to the slide path:
Gary finally feels safe:
And then relieved:
The Aftermath. A true Climax Slide:
We still managed to enjoy ourselves all the way to the bottom:
From the the stopping point, looking back up over 1,000 vertical feet to where it started.
The view back up from the road, with the smaller initial indicator slide on the left side:
Another slide that gained some attention was this one on Black Mountain, from the same morning heat as ours. Notice the small crown near the ridge that stepped down to the 6' crown below. Also skier triggered:
We decided to pull the plug on the day after two pretty obvious omens, and drove on home to spend a nice Spring afternoon with the families.
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