February 8, 2014, Blue Bell Pass, Avi

Went up Pickhandle Basin and booted up to Blue Bell Pass (West Facing) on Saturday sticking to the trees and occasionally into some open areas.  Noticed mostly incredibly light snow on the way up and occasionally some wind packed snow that would shear off by the hand (an inch to three).  Saw, noted and missed some obvious signs on the way up.  Lots of discussion was had about the snow the entire way up, but in hindsight next time I will voice a 'no go' after some learning.

On the way down skiing was great and strategic.  We were in a small glade and two members of our group made some turns through the area and saw and experienced no signs of weakness.  I skied literally 10 feet to the left and everything around me broke, but had no momentum and slid about 10 ft.  Crown was 6 to 18 inches in height, probably 40 ft in width, with 10 ft of sliding.  There wasn't more than another 40ft for it to run if it had in this spot (Elevation around 5500ft).  To say the least I felt lucky and skied very safely from that point on to gold hills.  Spent Sunday in bounds as I was weary of the conditions and still learning from my mistakes of the past day.

Photo and vid of the slide (crappy quality from iphone):
https://plus.google.com/photos/105664275472153507536/albums/5978972800543167889