Avalanche: Douglas Island

Skied down the spine of the Ben Stewart; this is the rib above the cliffs lookers left of Cropley Chute. In the upper part I did not find any signs of instability, cracking or wind slabs as I made my way down. There is a short chute halfway down, I ski cut the top with no results. I dropped in and peeled out to the right as the slope broke loose. I wasn't carried but held tight with poles dug in off to the side as the slide passed. I yelled to let people know that snow was on the move. There was another party in Consolation Bowl who saw me skiing down and kick off the slab. They were off to the side, I skied the bed surface and then traversed over to meet up with them. They said not much made it down into the bowl or to the base of the rib. We were unaware of how much wrapped into the Cropley chute side. We skinned up consolation bowl, contacted ski patrol when we were in cell phone reception and were informed of the Stewart Headwall slide. We skinned up to check on that party (who were ok) and reported back to ski patrol. Upon the exit we saw how much larger the slide was than perceived and searched the debris pile. We rode the chair up and debriefed with Ski Patrol.

The day prior (Saturday) had a fair amount of avalanche activity with the early morning storm and we attributed the crowns to this day. Snow on Saturday dissipated mid day, the winds decreased and it cooled down.