Saddle Peak avalanche: 2 partially buried_pic2

From an email of the two who were caught in the slide:

We I left around 10:30 for a nice day of skiing at Bridger. Today had been our first day off from work at The Yellowstone Club in almost a month—we are both ski instructors. We lapped Slashmans 3 or 4 times (staying near the lift and feeling out the snow conditions) before deciding to leave the ski area boundary and observe conditions above and below the football field. We found some nice turns through the trees parallel to the football field and stopped to rest below the cliff faces near the cave. We rested for a moment and I asked my partner what he thought of the snow conditions.
        “a little firm but seems stable to me” he said. I started to stick my pole into the snow pointlessly and in that very moment heard the rumble. My heart sank and I knew that was not a sound I wanted to be hearing. I looked at him and then up and saw a wall of snow shoot over the edge of the cliff. I barely had time to yell obscenities and attempt to ski away before my body was pounded with chunks of snow sending me into a tumble of grey and white. I felt as if I was in a washing machine. My mouth filled with snow making it difficult to breath and attempted to spit it out, I was still tumbling. It seemed like an eternity but must have only been 10 or 15 seconds. The snow began to clear around me and I was completely disoriented. My eyes met with a figure, it was my friend. When I realized that we were both alright I felt a feeling of elation and confusion beyond compare. We had both been buried waist deep. I wiggled my way out and ran to him. I asked if he was alright and hugged him. Some others skiers saw us and the debris and came to assist us. My friend lost a ski pole but we found both of our skis. We must have slid around 150 feet. After telling patrol we went home and Slushmans was closed off for the day. We really were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ski patrol claimed it to be a natural slide. We are both extremely grateful to be alive.

Advisory Year
Bridger Range, 2018-01-03