My partner & I were present on the day of the avalanche referenced above. It was a high hazard day as noted in the avalanche report. We were at the hairpin skiing a low angle treed run. We crossed the avalanche terrain in question one at a time to access the run. There were several recreational parties as well as Jeff Ward's guided party who was clearly behind us. Everyone was concentrated in the same area. Breaking trail was very difficult & this was all done by recreational skiers. Mr. Ward's party followed our skin track. As he was skinning up our trail for his first run, we skied by him on our first run down.
On our second run, one of the recreational skiers, drunk on powder, was skinning up on his own, he got ahead of everyone, we didn't know his plan. He made a bad choice & entered the trigger point at the head of the avalanche zone. He triggered an avalanche that swept to the bottom & partially buried Mr. Ward's 2 clients. One of his clients lost their ski which was not retrieved. The skier who triggered the avalanche hurt his ankle & also lost a ski, which was not retrieved. The recreational skiers helped him get to his sled. Fortunately no one was hurt or died that day. There is a definite danger placing yourself under parties skiing above. I hope we can all learn from this.
