Ok, I think the extremes are blurring the fact that there's a TON of completely rideable terrain that you can have a blast on without pushing too far.
Both Skibreeze & myself (can't speak for the ones I don't know) are serious riders who aren't exactly sitting at the bottom of the hill telling everyone "git down, it's DAINGERIS UP THAR" we push, we climb, drop cornices, we ride hard, every weekend... we've also both been caught & gotten lucky. I just barely survived a slide about 45 min south of GL last year... and I've got a TON of avy experience. I've done countless classes, taken my level 1 & 2, taught tons of others... and I got caught. It's not some joke when people say that it's sketchy out here this year. It's BAD.
That said, what you're missing in what I said earlier, and perhaps I overstated... there's a ton of great terrain without being a "gravel mountain statistic" You can come here & ride all SORTS of killer (killer in a good way) terrain without climbing "super chicken" or any chutes.
When someone like me offers to guide... it's something you should really think about, guys who live here know the area, know the stashes, and we also know the avy conditions & how they pertain to a particular hill... that's the kind of thing that's invaluable out here.
Glad you're taking an avy class, maybe you'll learn enough to avoid the terrain that we're talking about. If it's Mike Duffy's class, don't be afraid to ask him specifically about the area & what is good to go & what is to be avoided.
