I had finished my run off of square-top and was watching from a safe distance as the second member of my party descended. He made a right hand turn under the rock bands when a slab broke 10-15 feet above him. It carried him a short distance but with his momentum he was able to get off of the moving snow to a safe location. I watched the slide move down the slope but could not see my partner as he had stopped behind a rock band in a group of trees. Once the slide stopped moving he moved from his position, and to my relief came into view. The other members of the party descended and we regrouped glad that everyone was safe. I called Alta Central to report the slide and no injuries or burials.

In hindsight there are several things learned today.

The first was that proper communication amongst group members is critical. Knowing each others route choices, stopping points, order of and location of drop-in, etc. We were not as organized as we should have been and were fortunate that no one was caught. I am confident that we would have been able to perform and execute a search and rescue, but I also know that we would not have been as efficient as we should have been due to lack of proper communication before the skiing began; and as we all know, speed and efficiency is paramount to a successful rescue.

Second is the classic example of jumping into dangerous terrain on a day with some of the best skiing conditions of the year and "moderate" danger despite the fact that we all knew of the lingering hazards that have plagued our snow-pack this year. As with everyone out there, we were chomping at the bit to get into steeper terrain and jump off of something. It goes to show that you can be conservative all year long, but it only takes one error in judgement to cause a situation that could potentially be fatal. We were very lucky that an incident was avoided.

Forecaster Note - thanks for the report. Glad no one was injured and all's well.