east coast avi work.

[powderbank]

You don't hear about this too often....

Patrollers Release Slides at Sugarloaf

Carrabassett Valley, Maine (Ski Press)-Ski Patrollers released several small avalanches today on the backside of Sugarloaf Mountain in Carrabassett Valley, after six inches of snow combined with winds overnight to load the area with large volumes of snow.

While conducting a morning check of the backside snowfields patrollers cut several fractures on three separate pitches, releasing a number of slides up to 200 feet wide and 200 feet in length. The section of the snowfields in which the slides occurred was closed to the public.

Six inches of snow fell on the summit of Sugarloaf overnight, and winds loaded large volumes of snow onto the backside, which contains some of the steepest terrain on the mountain. The fresh snow built up on top of a hard-packed layer of granular snow, resulting in conditions conducive to avalanches. Sugarloaf has received 208 inches of snow to date, resulting in deep base depths that have buried many small trees and other obstacles that may typically prevent these types of slides. (Credit: Ski Press World)

[trainnvain]

They've had slides up there in the past.
The snow is so deep this late in the season, when they do get fresh, there's no anchors.
Those slide paths will plow you straight into treeline as well.

[mb2778]

I used to ski sugarloaf a bunch 4 or 5 years ago and rumor had it that there was an inbounds slide on one of the glades around this time of year... I doubted it then 'cause the kid who told me was less than a reliable source, but I guess it makes sense that it's at least theoretically possible around this time of year. Still, it seems pretty unlikely, especially in the tighter glades.

[450rider]

ya last year i ducked the rope and skied the backside right after we got about a foot, and i set off a small slide, it wasnt very big just because of the size of the mountain obviously, but it still surprised me to see the snow start to slip out from under me, but i was able to hold my ground as it went by.