He was alone. He followed the track that I set and took first tracks on a low-angle line (we did not care). Never spoke to us even though he was close- we said hello. After the second climb, I stopped mid run by a tree to yell at my partner below to traverse out or that he would have to skin back up to the road out. Surely I would not have stopped if I thought anyone else was above, and it was questionable that I stopped- I was yelling at my partner below to save his need to skin up. *One's behavior in avalanche terrain, in my view, is ALWAYS altered by companions- I do not like more than 2-3 in a party usually*. The telemarker passed by me putting in the third track on the second run. I would have happily let him go first to further test the slope, or would have moved out of the way quickly when below, no problem, had I known he were there. <br><br>At a minimum in the bc one should let someone below know you are coming down. A simple whoop is enough.<br><br>As a practical consideration, nothing like a sluff or slide was going to move that day. But the principle of such behavior-loading a deep snow 38 degree slope as described...This is why soon with more snow I will no longer tour where others commonly hang out.
