Day Started by Skiing NNE aspect near and below tree line ridge of Nirvana Trees and into Nevada gully. Observed no signs of instability. Upon getting back up around the world there were other tracks in Nirvana trees and a different party of skiers had skied the lowest angle but center gut of Nevada bowl (2 skiers with a dog). Second run was Swamp (skiers right swamp creature) with soft snow on a solar crust. Observed no signs of instability and great skiing. Decided to skin up for a 3rd run and ski back to Ophir via Swamp Angel (NNW). Upon seeing tracks in Nevada Bowl and others, there were comments about the Persistent slab and how dangerous it was. There is definitely a sleeping dragon as CAIC reporter mentioned, and base structure was generally poor, but the lack of observations resulted in a false sense of confidence in the "dormancy" of this persistent slab below tree line.

Incident: Skier 1 went first and took an aggressive ski cut towards the skiers left (more north facing ridge) and skied the ridge down crossing another gully and to the "safety" pictured. No signs of instability on this run. Skier 2 skied just below skier 1's tracks and upon reaching the ridge caused a D2 avalanche below their skies (pictured), and Skier 1 yelled avalanche from the ridge "safety" down below. Skier 2 did not get caught or carried, the avalanche debris flowed down the gully (traveling ~800 feet of distance) not near Skier 1, sympathetically releasing another small avalanche on the W facing slope (pictured) and Skier 1 was able to get a photo of the avalanche, likely stepping a bit closer to the gully at this point. The first avalanche crown was estimated to be 80cm at its highest point and the W facing crown was estimated to be the new storm snow since Thursday?
Skier 2 then proceeded skiing down the ridge and reached Skier 1 and stopped skiers left of Skier 1. Skier 3 then skied down the ridge, staying very close to the tracks of skiers 1 and 2, and crossed the other gully (the south arm of the Y of Swamp Angel). Upon reaching this sub-ridge Skiers 1 and 2 were on, Skier 3 turned and caused another avalanche on the ridge skiers 1 and 2 had skied. Skier 3 was knocked off their feet and in the trees, but was not carried. They observed a crown of roughly 2 feet and a bed surface of facets. At this time Skiers 1 and 2 heard and felt a loud collapse, yelled, and the snowpack fractured under their feet into numerous blocks moving downhill. Skier 2 was able to side step and grab a tree, but Skier 1 tried to grab a small tree below them and was knocked off their feet and drug down into the gully with the moving snow. At this point, Skier 1 deployed their air bag, and was carried 260 vertical feet., periodically coming above and below the snow while rapidly moving down the gully. Skier 1 struck a small tree, and lost their pole, but ended up relatively unscathed (just some bruises) and on top of the debris (they think the airbag was an important part of this). Upon coming out of the snow, Skier 1 yelled uphill and started to initiate a search, but quickly heard that skiers 2 and 3 had not been carried. During this incident skier 3 skied down the faceted bed surface and reached Skier 2, and they started to initiate a search, but quickly heard from skier 1` yelling up at them and then radioing they were okay. All skiers proceeded to take the safest route down.

Main Takeaways: This incident clearly reflects the challenging and dangerous aspects of a Persistent Slab problem. The group made a poor decision skiing that steep of terrain, and was incorrectly given confidence by a lack of any signs of instability. Furthermore, the "safety" chosen reflected a concern of surface instability and not a deeper and widespread persistent slab problem, and they should have taken this into consideration after seeing the first avalanche because the safe zone was indeed not safe. Stay safe out there folks.

Up until the avalanche little to no signs of instability were observed. One minor and isolated collapse stepping off the skintrack coming up around the world that only one in our party heard but otherwise quiet until the two avalanches

Moderate (10-20mph gusts) West winds. Flurries of light snow throughout the day with little accumulation. Brief bouts of sunshine. Unsure of exact temps but quite cold (between 10-22 degrees would guess)