We came upon this scene at approximately 2:45. We first noted the angle of the slope on our initial trip up the ridge to ski a different aspect which measured 26° or less. On lap two we looked north and noted a 3'-4' crown which had not been there 20 min earlier. We initially observed one sled sitting north of a considerable debris pile so we skied north from the ridge to a point above the fracture to determine in everyone was OK.

From the single sled track leading onto the slope above the fracture it appears that The slide was triggered when a sled rider entered a shallow drainage in the slope from approximately 9900'. The slope fractured roughly 80' below the top of the ridge and appeared to have propagated 100' both north and south from the rider's position. We saw several people and sleds in the debris pile in the trees below the slope that had failed and below the extensive hangfire. We called down and they indicated all was well and that no one was buried. We warned them of the size of the hangfire above them and then skied back to our sleds.

The slope failed on a hard appearing bed between 3 and 4' deep. It appeared that the slope consisted of several thinner slabs stacked atop one another but we could not safely examine either the crown or the bed surface. The slide ran a few hundred feet down the slope and approximately 80'-100' into the trees.

Observing the scene this was obviously a very close call and could have easily been a burial or a fatality. We were happy to find meveryone OK. The snowpack out there is scary.