Had quite the experience last time out riding. Its always good, and Thanks is always given, when you come back from a day of riding with your sled in one piece and everyone is safe. This day extra Thanks was given. Avalanche conditions are still bad as illustrated by the pictures below. We went to one of our favorite spots to do some climbing. I like climbing here because it has a large run-out and options for the worst case scenario's. I am glad I had extra power (12 lbs boost) and was able to climb out above it. Not a fun filling when the ground starts moving on you. It broke 30' above me and I was able to climb to what I thought was safety above the slide. I got nervous (more nervous) above where it broke, because I thought out of the corner of my eye I saw another fracture and I didn't have the speed to climb out of that one. So, I turned and went down and deployed my airbag. BTW I have always thought it would be hard to pull the handle while riding and having to let go of the handle bars. It took all of .1 seconds to reach and grab and pull and then hammer down. Now I came down with the worry of not knowing what was following behind me. Got to the bottom and I was now moving fast, 60+ mph, and realized there is a big pile of snow at the bottom and I am now going airborne. Squared up the best I could and took some air off a 5' slab kicker! Got some air and landed hard but I was know out of the danger zone. I am very grateful that nobody was hurt. I didn't need to deploy the bag, but its better to be safe than sorry. Interested point. I got to the bottom and thought, "stupid airbag didn't event deploy." I really couldn't even tell that it was out and it didn't impede my riding or ability to ride fast and jump some technical spots. Took all of 5 min to pack it back up. Thanks to SNOWBIGDEAL and getting me a refill tank the next day for $35. We inspected the slide after and apparently what I thought was another fracture above me was a set off coyotes tracks traversing horizontally across the top. Having a radio would of been nice for my spotter to tell me stay up and not turn and come down. Lesson learned: A hill that has previously broke, doesn't mean it wont break again.
