Carson Pass Avalanche Observation

I've never liked the steep slopes immediately south on the PCT from the Carson Pass trailhead headed towards Elephant's Back. It appeared that a small touring party had broken trail from the parking lot roughly following the PCT and the blue diamond marked trail. After skinning a few hundred feet from the parking lot, the existing skin track crossed a small but steep slope that didn't inspire confidence with the current conditions. I left the existing skin track and then approached the steepest part of the slope above the previous skin track from the lower angle terrain off the side and subsequently triggered a small but impressive avalanche on the steepest part of the slope. The fact that the slope had been undercut by the existing skin track likely contributed to the slide being triggered when I approached above the old skin track. Of note, the slide completely covered the previous skin track. There was a shallow ~6 inch storm snow weak layer that failed easily and then the deeper ~60 cm layer. The bed surface appeared to be partially rounded near surface facets.