I was atop the Wilson chutes looking across at Alexander Basin's NE face. I saw two snowboarders descending a steep cliffed-out face. They seemed to be lost and traversing boarders left from the summit of Gobblers into Alexander. They were skiing above some cliffs and one boarder knocked off a fairly deep slide maybe 2-3 ft deep max and only 30 or so feet wide. It broke on a convex rollover and didn't take the boarder for a ride. The rider would have been taken over some cliff bands about 30-50 feet of rock and trees. The slide ran about 500 feet or so fanning out onto the apron below. If the snowboarder had been taken for a ride, it could have been ugly. Glad the boarder was okay we didn't have to help with a possible rescue. After watching the party trigger the slide, the visibility disappeared. We later saw out tracks from their descent through the cliff bands. They were very lucky. Sorry no pics, forgot the camera and there was little visibility in my travels there today.

Forecaster Comments: While the avalanche may have been a new wind slab, my speculation is that it failed on older faceted snow. Depth and location (thinner rocky terrain) leads me to believe this. What's more, the piece of snow sits 'unsupported' by the cliff bands below and offer two red flags for terrain/snow assessment.

• One - there is no compressive support from below - the avalanche only needs to overcome friction at the weak layer interface as well as tensile strength around the upper/side perimeter of the slide.
• Two - the obvious consequences of getting dragged over the cliff.

Hardesty