080114 Size 2.5 Hakuba Norikura

Date: 080114. Location: N36 46' 49.25" E137 48' 22.30" ESE face Norikura Dake. Size 2.5. Start zone 2360m, 35 degrees. Terminus in bottom runout. Track 500m long, 150m wide. Alpha angle: 25 degrees. Trigger: Natural - slab failure during very strong winds, most likely during 080113.   Crown wall propagated across convex roll and along the open bowl covering a wide area and consisting of slab thickness between 50 and 100cm (estimate).  Start zone and track has since started to fill with more windslab after initial release.

The crown wall and start zone.

Here is a group skiing the same face last week.  As I commented when I posted this picture in the past, the obvious convex roll above the skier is not a safe place to cut skiers right looking for a steeper cleaner line down the face as it become tracked out.