BOOM! It sounded as if a bomb went off above my head and the trees began to shake as I saw giant 3 foot blocks coming right towards me. My partner yelled AVALANCHE!! to warn our friends above and I began to take off with the falling snow. All I could think about was grabbing one of the trees before I got going any faster and luckily there were some below me.

This is where I was buried up to my neck against the tree in the center right. When I slid right into the first one, I tried to bear hug it but my arms were ripped off like little tooth picks. I knew my only hope was the one just down to the left so I threw my arms around it and clung on for life as pounds and pounds of snow packed onto my back. All of this while trying to avoid the broken branches threatening to stab me as the snow kept coming. The majority of the moving snow ran right through that keyhole on the left. If I had been any farther out onto the slope, I would have run off into Mineral over all the exposed rocks.

This is the view from where I was digging my pit when the avalanche was triggered. As we were working our way up the ridge right near the

A closer look at the crown. The layers become very obvious.

This is the view from where the rest of my party was when the slide was triggered.

After I realized the slide had stopped and climbed out of the tree hole, I realized all of my gear had taken off down the slope. I began booting down through the trees looking for all of my camera equipment and avy gear. Luckily, my pack strap grabbed a branch along with my camera and lenses, my poles were showing and my shovel was sticking straight up out of another set of avalanche debris from this sympathetic slide just down and to the right of the first fracture. I took this photo from where I found my camera. There seemed to be another shear down to the left and I saw more debris against the trees even farther down but had no intention of going that far to investigate with all the hang fire still sitting above me. I still have no idea how far the collective debris went as the fog rolled in soon after. It was obvious where the snowpack failed and if there was any mistake made, it was mine for stepping too far off the ridge to dig the pit. I know that this west face has a northerly component to it because of the imposing ridge and trees but I am still puzzled as to why this face was so incredibly different and more unstable than so many similar others I have observed recently. I guess we learn something everyday... even if it is the hard way. If all that I broke was a binding and all that I lost was a snow saw, I consider myself very, very lucky.