Wet Loose Avalanche on Angora Peak

We attempted to ski Angora Peak today. We agreed to turn around early if the signs of warming became alarming. We monitored the snow conditions during our ascent and periodically did boot pen tests. We agreed that if the boot pen test reached ankle deep that we would turn around. By the time we reached the lower rocky false summit of Angora, we decided that conditions were concerning enough (ie. ankle deep boot pen test) that we would transition and ski down.

At 10:30am my husband skied down first and called out that the snow was mushy and to ski slow. He waited in a safe spot while I then descended. After about two turns, I noticed the snow moving underneath me and it knocked me off balance. Being surprised, I failed to self arrest right away. As I was swept down, I noted that I needed to self arrest quickly or I was going to hit the rocks below. We weren't in the Angora southern chutes proper, but there were rocks near where we were. I was able to arrest myself just 3 feet before I would have collided into the rocks below me.

The terrain the avalanche occurred on was East/Southeast facing, ~8200 feet in elevation, and 40 degrees in slope angle.  We estimate the avalanche as a D1 / R1.

Interestingly, as we descended the final stretch of Angora Ridge down into the flats we encountered what seemed like perfect corn. I am not sure why were we dropped in was a lot worse than what we had skied up and lower elevations we skied down. Maybe because it was slightly more east facing? Steeper?

My learnings from this experience are: 1) I need to practice self arrests regularly or I can't expect that I will deploy that skill well under pressure 2) We had discussed that if it did slide we likely wouldn't get buried. We should have discussed the consequences of being swept into hazards.