Stevens dig a snow pit above the crown of the large avalanche
that killed a backcountry snowboarder last week. Kyle Clayton
photo.
Twenty feet below avalanche forecasters Erik Stevens and Jonny Cromwell, on a gray and frigid alpine slope behind Mount Ripinsky, passing clouds shroud then reveal a 3-meter deep fracture in the snowpack. The 400-meter long cleavage of snow is a crown line, one…