Boom Lake Avalanche Incident

A word of warning to all the folks who visit Boom Lake in the winter. Today we encountered three individuals walking across the lake back toward where the trail ends. They had been involved in an avalanche accident. The avalanche came down to the end of its path, broke through the ice and continued some distance across the ice surface. One individual ended up in the lake and another was partially buried (although we are unclear how buried they were). It appears they were near a frozen waterfall in the middle of the avalanche path when the avalanche reached them. The three of them were shaken and the one that ended up in the lake was very cold. They appeared to have little knowledge of avalanche safety. A photograph of the path and the hole in the lake ice is included. Avalanche conditions were considerable/moderate/low. All the paths on the north side of the lake had run, many of them full path and some had reached the lake edge. This should be a somber warning to all the users of this area, including us, who have sat at the end of the trail and eaten lunch. This is a backcountry area and caution/knowledge is required. Also, I hope that the group of five to six skiers we saw on our way out who were switch backing up the first avalanche path internalized the information we provided and made safe terrain choices. The beta they received could not have been more timely or relevant to their decisions.