My partner and I went up to ski Guild Line in Silver Fork. We both were well versed in the recent avalanche observations and the existing persistent weak layer. The plan was to stay to lower-angle slopes in and around trees and we were fully prepared to ski back out our skin track if conditions required. On the initial skin up we observed what appeared to be faceting through the entire snow pack and hand pits indicated very weak snow particularly at lower altitudes. We chose a lower-angle slope for our first lap, skied one at a time close to the tree line, and experienced no movement, collapsing or otherwise.

For our second lap we began at the same point (with a false sense of security) but chose a line that was slightly to skiers left, perhaps 20 feet. On my partner’s 3rd or 4th turn the entire slope began moving. He had seen the cracks before it moved and immediately hit “eject” and moved to the right, stopping in front of a large tree. We remained within shouting distance, and I watched the entire snowpack rumble down an open area then funnel through the trees. We skied down our original line, which was still intact as it was separated from the slide path by a small rib/shoulder. The slide ran what appeared to be the entire length of the possible path, roughly 1,000 vertical feet down the natural, gullied slide path, eventually running into trees, over rocks and piling up in a small gully. I estimate the depth of the toe to be ~12-15 feet in the gully terrain trap. There would be no chance of survival if caught in this slide (trauma and burial).

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