I agree that that was a slide. I was in an avalanche in Cooke City early Feb. of '07. I'm no expert, but if you ask me, it was a slide that evolved into an avalanche. I followed a M1000 up a hill neither one of us should have been on. He made two passes, so I figured I could make one. I was the only one on the hill at the moment. I came close to 50 feet from where he turned around, and it broke off in two slabs, that were about 4 feet tall and cut perfectly straight up and down. I decided to try to make it to the top since I was that far up anyways. I nailed the first slab and went airborne, landing between the first and second slab. When I hit the second slab, I wheelied through it, full throttle, trying my hardest to keep the sled pointed striaght up the hill. It slid past me as I kinda just sat there with it pinned. I was so very very very lucky I didn't get taken down with it. I had no beacon at the time. Riding like a dumbazz and playing with my life in my hands. I believe I have pics in my profile. This avalanche started in a narrow area and grew to be about a 1/4 mile wide. It took over an hour and 1/2 to get unstuck. And where I was stuck, there was a rock ledge under the snow, with a large cavity tucked underneath the rock that I could have parked my sled in if the opening would have been large enough. I don't know if this had anything to do with the slide, but I am pretty sure my noisy can had something to do with it as the M1000 was stock. Also if I had anything smaller than the 900 with the 166" I probably wouldn't have been able to saw through the second slab. I am very lucky and that event has changed the way I ride. I also am faithful with using a beacon now. I will try to post more pics this weekend.
