Wow, what a difference a year makes. Thanks for the remember this photo! Anyway my son and I were up Sunday and skiied some unnamed and or hikeable runs within the greater Hyak boundries. I can't emphasize enough the importance of not skiing alone. A radio or cell is also standard. We seen numerous tree wells that were six to ten feet deep. Many of these under older growth trees with no branches to cling to for an attempt to escape. Also some of the ten foot trees are now buried with huge air pockets with them. My son hit one and vanished from my view. Only ten yards above me in steep terrain, it was going to be a brutal twenty minute climb up to him. He had managed to undo his bindings and free himself before I reached him. I then took him to a ten foot(educational)tree well and kicked the rim with my ski, and no kidding at least four to five feet of snow broke loose and slid right down the hole. More than enough to bury an adult skier let alone a thirteen year old. With all the new snow comes personal responsibility. Everyone goes home alive. I know I found some new respect for old man winter even on lil' ol' Hyak.

I'm glad that incident had a happy and educational end. That had to have been really scary.

Also scary is that so many people still have no clue about tree wells. No more snowbituaries please, people!

My family always skis with our FRS radios (to stay marginally connected to each other), and always assumed that you could reach the ski patrol on frequency 9-11. At other areas of The Summit, that's true. A Hyak patroller told me that they don't monitor 9-11. Anybody know why? Seems like such a simple thing.