This is correct.... it was the first modern snowbiker killed an avalanche. It was up here in an area called Skyland just south of Glacier Park. If I remember correctly the slide path wasn't particularly large and occurred in an area dotted with trees (possibly a burn area, can't remember). He was riding with someone else but could not be rescued in time.
Nick is correct. We cover a ton of terrain and find ourselves in extremely risky terrain very easily. I was buried for 8 minutes in an avalanche back in 2011 and I can tell you that terrain wasn't particularly gnarly or particularly steep.... it was just bad conditions. One thing I am thankful for is that my glide path was mostly free of trees even though the slide started in a tree'd area. While the likelyhood of a slide starting in a tree'd area is statistically less, so are your chances of surviving that slide. Death from impact trauma is right up there with suffocation.
One thing I have noticed since my burial was that I do get concerned and I do pull back... but even with that I've still triggered a few and I've been on the slab when a slide started. We can mitigate as much as possible but you do need to accept that sometimes just simply being in the backcountry is a risk by itself. Even an extremely small slide can terrain trap you and seeing that bikes don't ride together and follow the same line like sledders do you can be left alone easily for 13 minutes.... that's about the time burial survival drops from 75% to 30%.
