Standing at the top of Heaven's Gate on the Patsy Marley shoulder our group of 3 discussed the possibility of skiing that run dropping in towards Brighton. We discussed the avalanche danger for the day and the two problems, wind slabs and persistent weak layer. We could tell by probing with our ski poles that a wind slab had formed near the top of the run and there appeared to be 2-4" of fresh snow on top of the dense slab. We discussed the potential for a wind slab release to step down to the PWL and agreed that the likelihood was low (although not zero) and that we would most likely see a shallow slide run on top of the wind-buffed surface. We identified areas down below that we would not ski toward in the event something did release so we would not be carried into hazardous terrain.

As soon as Skier 1 dropped onto the slope, the small slide released and they were able to ski down to the agreed safe zone without incident. Riders 2 and 3 dropped in one at a time after and each time more snow was released but did not substantially increase the size of the initial slide. We regrouped and noted that with more snow or if you were knocked off your feet in the wrong place it could've been problematic but on this day it was manageable.