Some observations-we were prepared but still lucky, only 1 involved, Doctor in residence, 2 Rangers up the road less than a mile with radios, on the main road in a familiar area, pooling all our gear we had a lot of "stuff", shovels, probes, beacons, several space blankets, meds, backcountry neck brace, duct tape (5 rolls) and it was amazing how everyone kept their wits and did their "job", whether it was going for help, digging, comforting, but we used and needed almost everything we had, the space blankets were critical to help fight hypothermia, shovel handles were used for a splint, people helped unselfishly and we don't even know who some of them where, others that came along where nice enough to stay out of the way, the only issue was search and rescue had truck problems so where a bit slow to get there which made everything we had even more critical (not criticizing at all, they did great when they got there and we all appreciate their job) - I can't imagine the outcome if it would have been 2 or 3 people way in the backcountry far from help without "gear" - take more than you think you need and damn the weight - we rode "safe" and still got hit, the rules have changed this year with all the snow, safe last year is not safe this year!
